


Ooooooona.

by teacupears



Category: Harry Styles (Musician), One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, Mermaids, also niall an gemma are a thing in this, i didn't tag jade as a character cause it's not really her, i tagged them as relationship but, i used jade thirlwall as the face for the ofc, it's not her name tho, mermaid au, mermais, oona looks like jade that's about it, similarly to the last
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2019-10-08 09:38:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17384075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teacupears/pseuds/teacupears
Summary: He just wanted a mermaid tattoo.Not an actual mermaid.





	Ooooooona.

“Are you really gonna get a mermaid then?”

 

“Um, yeah,”

 

“An what the hell are you doing?” Harry looked up from book of tattoo designs he was flipping through to see Niall, smoothie in hand, watching Lou in confusion as she had covered nearly all of her desk in neon post it notes after making the height of her rolling chair the lowest it could possibly go.

 

“I don’t…” she looked at the post it notes neatly organized into rows before dropping her head down against the counter. “I’m so bored. I think the mermaid is a great idea but I’m so bored.”      

 

“Is there-“    

 

“This shit is amazing bro, what type of smoothie is this?” Lou’s face slowly reappeared over the top of her desk as she raised her chair back to his full height, her eyes cutting between the two boys as she began to obnoxiously click her pen.       

 

“It’s birthday cake.”       

 

“Serious?” Harry didn’t bother answering him, knowing it really didn’t matter. “This shit is so fucking good mate.”       

 

“That’s great Niall. Lou?” She looked up from drawing flowers on her post it notes as Harry shut the book and walked over her, leaning against her desk. “Are these the only mermaids you have?”               

 

“Yeeeaa-nnnooo. No they are not.”  She just stared at him. Niall made an extremely loud slurping sound in a desperate attempt to get more of the smoothie, which was unnecessary considering it wasn’t even half empty. And Harry found himself questioning why these were his friends.

 

“Well, can I see-“ Lou stood up suddenly, causing Harry to cut himself off.

 

“It’s only one. It’s just one mermaid. When Tom took over he pulled it from the book cause no one ever wanted it an he just felt like it was taking up space so he got rid of it but I think the original sketch is around here somewhere.” She walked off just as suddenly as she stood up, mumbling about where it might possibly be.

 

“So where you gonna put it?” Harry turned back to Niall, who had thankfully returned to drinking his smoothie like a normal person. “You should put it on like, your bicep. So when you flex her tail moves.”

 

“That’s a great idea Niall but” Harry was cut off by the sound of several books falling and Lou rushing back to her desk, an oval shaped piece of paper in her hand.

 

“I found it.” She slid the paper across the counter towards Harry as Niall leaned in to get a better look at the mermaid. “There she is. That’s her.”

 

“She’s perfect.”

 

“She’s very naked.”

 

“Niall,” he shook his head lightly at Niall. She was in fact very naked, but as far as mermaids go, she was just what he wanted. “She’s good. This is the one I want.”

 

“Really.” He nodded. “Literally no one ever wanted her, are you sure?”

 

“Yes Lou. Anyway, I have to get back upstairs so…”

 

“Alright, do you wanna do it tomorrow? What time do you get off?”

 

“About 6.”

 

“Tom’s last appointment is at 6:25 but it’s just a small thing so it shouldn’t take too long, it that okay?”

 

“Yeah it’s fine.”

 

“Alright then, see you then.” She typed his name into the computer and placed the mermaid on the light table behind her. “I mean, unless you come down for lunch again…”

 

“Wait did Sophia make this?” Niall shook his smoothie in the air, the straw making a funny noise as it hit the edge of the top.

 

“No, I did.”

 

“Oh….can you bring me another one tomorrow?”

 

“Sure Niall.” Harry made his way to the door of the tattoo parlor; ready to climb the stairs back to street level and make his way back to his own job as his lunch break was nearly over. “Same kind?”

 

“Um no…the cherry one please.”

 

“Alright, bye guys.”

 

“Byyyye!”

 

“Bye Harry.”

 

~

 

“You like it?”

 

“Yeah man,” Harry twisted and bent his arm around at different angles to get a look at the new ink on the underside of his forearm. “I love it really, it’s good.”

 

“I can’t believe you actually wanted it. That mermaid. No one’s ever wanted her.” Tom spoke as he cleaned up his work area a little before he began bandaging Harry’s arm up.

 

“Maybe it’s magic.” Lou joked from where she and Niall stood in the doorway.

 

“Sailor’s curse.” Niall joined, the two wiggling their fingers in a typically spooky fashion. Harry just rolled his eyes at them as Tom secured the plastic to his skin.

 

“You guys need a ride?” Knowing that neither of them actively drove despite having passed their driving tests.

 

“No Sam’s coming to get me.”

 

“Gemma’s supposed to meet me here.” Harry made a face at the mention of his sister’s name. “It’s date night.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Also we’re walking.”

 

“Ew, but okay.”

 

* * *

  **3 months.**

 

“Does it look like she’s fading?” Sophia turned away from the blender she was cleaning to see Harry examining his mermaid tattoo.

 

“Didn’t you like, just get that?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“It doesn’t look like it’s fading…maybe you need to get your eyes checked.” Ever since Harry got that tattoo he’d become increasingly concerned with it. She let out a quiet sigh when he didn’t look up from his tattoo and turned back to the blender. “It looks fine to me Harry. It’s just a tattoo, stop worrying about it so much.”

 

* * *

  **5 months.**

 

There it was again.

        That bubbling noise coming from the master bathroom in Harry’s flat.

        “I think I need to get my tub checked.“ The five people scattered around Harry’s living room turned to watch him as he stared at the staircase.

        “Um, okay. Why did”

        “I thought you had a shower.” Gemma breathed heavily through her nose as she tried not to punch Niall in face for interrupting her to ask such an irrelevant question to the already irrelevant statement.

        “I do,” the bubbling noise drifted down the stairs again, “it’s like a combined, shower tub thing.”

        “Okay that really doesn’t matter, why do you think it needs to be checked? Why did you tell us that?” She wasn’t surprised honestly; her brother always had a tendency to share random information.

        “You didn’t hear that? The bubbling? It’s been happening for a few weeks now. It’s like water is coming up out of the drain. I’ve been using the bathroom down here just cause I’m a bit scared to use mine really.”

        “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

        “I hope so.”

 

* * *

  **6 months.**

 

“Does this look like it’s fading to you?”

 

“Harry.”

 

“Sorry.”

 

* * *

  **7 months.**

 

He was sitting in his kitchen when he heard it. The actual splashing. Stilling his fingers from the text he was typing, Harry sat and listened quietly for at least a minute longer. The sound of water hitting the tiles of his bathroom floor echoed down the stairs. He set his phone down on the counter and moved to stand at the base of the staircase, trying to think of an explanation for the moving water in his bathroom.

 

He hadn’t left the shower on.

 

He was the only person currently in his house as he lived alone and had no plans for visitors.

 

He had been told that there was nothing wrong with the tub or drain when he had them checked.

 

And the bubbling noise had since stopped.

 

So what could it be?

 

The sound of a larger amount of water splashing against the floor pulled Harry from his thoughts and he swiftly made his way up to his en-suite bathroom. The more he climbed the more he heard. Soft laughter. Rubber slapping against the shower wall. The curtain hooks clinking together on the shower rod. More of the soft laughter.

 

So someone else was in his flat….taking a bath?

 

Walking across his room Harry took a deep breath before leaning into the bathroom.

 

“Oh my god.” Looking up from where her hands were making waves in the water of the tub, the smiling…girl….slapped her tail against the wall several times, causing more water to splash out the tub. “Oh, my god.”

 

“Hi!”

 

“There’s a,” he watched her tail. “You’re um,” he looked back to her face. Her eyes were pink. “Oh my god.” Like actually pink. She let out a string of giggles before she resumed splashing water out of the tub with her tail and hands. “Okay wait, please.” Harry moved completely into the bathroom, moving forward to grab the few towels he had in the bathroom off the rack. “Please stop doing that. I’m sure it’s very fun but you’re kind of getting water all over the floor an- an- and oh my god you’re not wearing…anything. Like proper nude.” He never made it to the towels, instead turning back and rushing out of the bathroom, crawling across his bed to get to his closet. “Very naked. Very naked and has a tail. Very naked and has a tail.” He shuffled through all his good button ups and flannels to find his old ‘Dream Boat’ t-shirt before it occurred to him what he was saying. “Very naked…has a, tail…” Harry raised his arm, expecting to see the mermaid tattoo he had acquired months ago, but was instead met with clear skin. Seemingly untouched by the black ink that should have been there. “Oh my god.”

 

“Hello?” Her soft voice reminded Harry that there actually was a mermaid in his bathtub and not just a thought in his mind. Pulling the shirt off the hanger and grabbing a few extra towels he made his way back to the bathroom, leaning in to see the mermaid lifting herself slightly out of the tub in an attempt to see into his bedroom. She pulled her herself back in when he reappeared in the doorway, sinking low until only her eyes could be seen over the edge, watching him the way he watched her. Their stare off didn’t last longer than a few seconds as the corners of her eyes crinkled and her undeniably sweet laughter rang out. A big smile on her face as her arms and tail splashed about in excitement. She thought they were playing a game.

 

“Okay, if you could just, stop doing that,” Harry set the extra towels down on the sink and handed her the shirt. “And put this on please.”  She held the shirt in her hands for a moment, holding it up and turning it around to figure it out.

 

“What is it?”

 

“It’s, it’s a shirt…you wear it.” He pinched the fabric of his own shirt, pulling at it slightly.  This information clearly meant nothing to her since she continued to stare at him. “Um okay, I’ll…” he took the shirt back from her and bunched it in his hands, telling her where to put her arms and helping her pull it over her head. He stepped back once it was on and she looked down to inspect this new thing she had acquired. She looked up at him, her eyes traveling over his shirt before looking back at her own and pinched the fabric the same way he had.

 

“We both have a shirt.” This excited her.

 

“Yeah, we both…yeah.” Harry ran a hand through his hair, wishing he hadn’t procrastinated on replacing his mop. “So, listen…how did you um…like how did you get here? In my bathroom?” He looked up to find her watching him calmly as he placed towels across the floor. She shrugged her shoulders and reached out of the tub to touch one of the towels before looking up at him. The smile on her face made Harry think she was going to splash her tail again but instead she just giggled.

 

“I woke up here.”

 

“You woke up here?” She nodded. “Um, okay well….okay.” He pushed some towels around with his foot. “What’s your name?” An excited gasp left her as she hung her arms outside the tub and rested her head on the ledge.

 

“What’s your name?” Harry was certainly confused. He had hoped that her gasp of excitement had meant that she actually had an answer for one of his questions, not that she would ask him the very question he asked her.

 

“Uh- no, what’s, what’s  _y_ -“

 

“What’s your name?” She repeated (again) cutting him off. The smile on her face made Harry consider the idea that she probably thought they were playing another game.

 

“Harry.”

 

“Oh!” She clasped her hands together and sunk back into the water, causing it to splash up against the wall behind her. “Harry.”

 

“Yeah. I’m Harry, and you’re…?” Smile still on her face she looked at him as if he was an idiot before grasping her shirt in her hand.

 

“…Wearing a shirt.” Harry studied her face a moment before he broke out in laughter. She was so genuine about her response that he just couldn’t contain it. Of course, the sound of Harry’s laughter caused her to let out her own. She didn’t really know why they were laughing, but it was fun.

 

“No, no no no” He tried to control his breathing. The last thing he needed was to have an asthma attack in front of a mermaid who certainly wouldn’t know how to help him. “I meant your name. Harry is my name, what’s your name?”

 

“Oh….I don’t know.” Of course. “I don’t think I have one.”

 

“You don’t….you don’t have one.” Harry was sure he had just aged 10 years. “You don’t have a name.” The last time he was in charge of naming something it ended up with the name Dusty.

 

“Harry?”

 

“You don’t know how you got here.” He could feel the grey hairs sprouting from his head. “You technically aren’t supposed to exist.”

 

“What?” Why was this happening to him?

 

“I work in a smoothie shop.” He had asthma. He was a good person. “And there’s a mermaid in my bathtub.”

 

Oh boy.

 

~

 

Harry fell asleep on the couch.

 

The TV was on with the volume low, so he could hear the mermaid if she called for him. He had gone up to check on her a few times after learning that she pretty much knew nothing about her current situation. He had carried one of the chairs from his dining table upstairs and placed it next to the tub so he could have a chat with his new houseguest. He told her that she needed a name. And that he’d help her find one. He told her where he thought she came from even though he wasn’t sure how it happened. He told her that she technically wasn’t supposed to exist. That people, a term he got stuck on when using since he felt that ‘creatures’ was oddly offensive (though she really wouldn’t have known the difference), like her were just myths in his world. The world they were currently in. He told her that he didn’t know how to take care of her but that he would do his best, because neither of them really had a choice. He told her that he would figure something out.

 

Harry woke up on the couch.

 

He turned the TV off but didn’t move from his spot. Thinking about the events of the day. If someone had told him, at any point before, that he would be responsible for the life of a seemingly clueless mermaid, he would’ve called them crazy. Maybe not to their face. But he definitely would’ve told it to somebody. Not Lou or Niall though. They would tease him about it. Sophia probably. She would agree with him.

 

He had to go to work tomorrow. Going to work meant leaving his new mermaid friend alone all day. Which was kind of a scary thought considering she liked to make a mess and didn’t know about anything in this flat. He’d have to have a talk with her before he left in the morning.

 

And then he realized that his house was completely silent. Not a splash or giggle drifted down the steps. He checked his phone for the time and figured that as someone with a people brain (terminology was no longer a thing Harry was confident in knowing) she got tired at night. Especially when it was this late. Standing from the couch he took his empty mug to the kitchen before making his way upstairs. He pulled his shirt off on his way to the bathroom to drop it into the laundry hamper and check on the mermaid one more time before he went to bed. He looked past the shower curtain that she had pulled halfway closed and actually winced at the sight her sleeping with her face pressed against the wall. Making a mental note to google the best ways to cushion an underwater location he made his way out of the bathroom, turning the light off as he went. He turned off his own bedside lamp and climbed into bed, wondering if she was like a forever type thing. A permanent fixture in his day to day life now. Would she still be living in his bathtub when they were both old and wrinkly? Did mermaids age? Would an 89 year old takes-two-steps-every-half-hour Harry still be taking care of a forever young mermaid? He couldn’t imagine being that old and still having to clean up all the water she splashed out of the tub, but the longer he thought about the more he decided that was the best option. He didn’t really like the idea of waking up or coming home one day to find her belly up and cold.

 

And then he hated himself for referring to her death as if she was a full fish. He didn’t like it. It made him feel bad. So he just pulled his pillow over his head and closed his eyes.

 

Tried his best to ignore the sad images of his nice new mermaid friend lifeless in his bathroom.

 

~

 

Harry woke up to a funny little song. Composed of cheery humming, tics, clicks, taps on the cast iron of the tub, and specifically timed and sized splashes. The word ‘dolphin’ had also managed to make its way into the song a few times. He rolled out of bed and peered into the bathroom as quietly as possible so he wouldn’t catch her attention. She was fine. She was keeping herself entertained pulling strands of her hair over her lip like a moustache and playing with the dolphin toy her had given her yesterday.

 

Harry had never been more thankful for Lou’s daughter leaving her toys at his house. Even if he had only discovered it after he stepped on it and cried a little. And the mermaid had been very excited when he explained to her what a dolphin was. He did pat himself on the back for that one.

 

Deciding that this was the perfect time for him to get ready for work Harry moved cautiously towards his closet to find some clothes for the day and then made his way to the downstairs bathroom. He knew he’d have the mermaid’s little dolphin song stuck in his head all day when he found himself humming it while in the shower.

 

He went back upstairs when he was dressed and ready for the day. She was sitting calmly now, staring at the toy sitting on the edge of the tub. She had stopped singing her song but still said dolphin. Repeatedly, testing out the different ways she could say it. She whispered it. She said loud. She said it louder. She said it high. Low. Fast and slow. She said dol-phin. And she also said dolph-in. And it was pretty adorable if Harry was being completely honest.

 

Grabbing the digital clock from his bedside table he made his way into the bathroom, catching her attention when he nearly slipped on a towel.

 

“Heyyyy….friend.” He smiled at her, dragging the chair he brought up yesterday closer to tub. She waved to him briefly before covering the toy with her hand, pulling it into the water and smiling back at him as if she didn’t want him to know that she was playing with it. Even though that was the very reason he had given the dolphin to her.

 

“Hi.” She pushed some of her wet hair behind her ear and leaned closer to Harry, folding her arms on the edge of the tub.

 

“Hi. So um, listen.” He looked at the clock in his hands to get an idea of how much time was left before he had to leave for work. “In about an hour, if that means anything to you,” She shook her head. “Right, well. In about an hour, which I’ll try to explain in a bit, I’m gonna have to leave for work.” She nodded despite the confused look on her face. “So, I won’t be here. Like, you know how yesterday, I left you by yourself in this room? And I told you that I’d be downstairs, and I came up to check on you a few times?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Well, I don’t be able to do that today. Because I won’t…I won’t be here. In this apartment.”

 

“You’ll be in a different apartment.”

 

“No no no. I won’t be in this building. At all. Like, I’m going to leave this building, and go, several buildings away.” She nodded again. “And when this,” Harry held up the clock and tapped it’s is display of red numbers. “Says ‘6:10’, I’ll be back. And I’ll come up to check on you then. You understand?”

 

“I think so.”

 

“Okay good. Also,” he stood from the chair and places the clock on her, pushing it back from her out of fear that she would forget (or just plainly ignore) what he was about to ask of her. “This clock will stop working if it gets water in it. So maybe, try not to splash too much? Like maybe a little splash is okay, but nothing too big. Cause you don’t wanna get this wet ya know?”

 

“Okay.” She said it softly, as if she wasn’t sure as she leaned back in the tub. She squinted at the clock and tapped the end of her tail against the wall a few times. “Yeah. Yeah okay.” She said again, looking at Harry and turning the dolphin over in her hands repeatedly.

 

“Good, good.” He hooked his fingers on the edge of his laundry hamper and pulled it with him towards the door. He figured he should probably move it downstairs so he wouldn’t have to barge into the bathroom to drop his dirty clothes off. This was the mermaid’s space now. Even though she was more or less confined to tub, the whole bathroom had becomes hers. “I’ll um, I’ll be back up, to tell you when I’m leaving.”

 

“Okay.”

 

~

 

“Why are you googling tub cushions?” Harry looked up from his phone to see Liam leaning on the counter next to him, peering over at his phone screen with the intention of giving Harry a hard time over whatever was on the screen.  “And why do you smell like the sea?”

 

“You’ve noticed it too?” Sophia pushed the door that lead to the back kitchen open and looked at her boyfriend as if they had just made the discovery of the century. “He smells like the ocean right? Like an ocean breeze?”

 

“Yeah like the ocean and…Like wet rocks.” Harry frowned at Liam’s description while Sophia nodded in agreement. “But not like gross wet rocks. Like you also kinda smell like candy. Like ocean and wet rocks made of candy.”

 

“….What?”

 

“I don’t know what it is. Like,” Sophia wrapped her hand around his forehead and pulled his head towards her, smelling his hair intensely. This was a group of friends who seemed to no longer have boundaries. “It’s not a shampoo.” She grabbed his hand next, raising it to smell his wrist. “It’s not a fragrance.” And then of course she smelled his shirt. “It’s not his clothes. So what is it?”

 

“Well I don’t know what to tell you guys so,”

 

“Were you with Gemma earlier? Sometimes she smells like the ocean.”

 

“No.”

 

“Hm, weird.”

 

~

 

It was six exactly when Harry got back to his building. His brain switched from thinking about how he apparently smelt like the ocean and rocks to hoping that his new houseguest had survived the day by herself as he stepped off the elevator and walked to his door.

 

“Um, hey! I’m back!” He got no response as he took his shoes off by the door though he could hear little sounds. He set his phone and keys down on the kitchen counter before going upstairs to see her. “Mermaid?” Sniffles. Sniffles and small huffs caused Harry to rush the rest of the distance between himself and the bathroom when his brain decided that his mermaid was crying.

 

She was lying on her side, tail bent to fit completely in tub and face pressed against the curve of the cast iron. And she was crying.  And Harry’s heart was breaking. He sat on floor next to the tub and rested his head on the edge the way she had earlier that day.

 

“Heyyy, what’s wrong? Why you crying?” Another sniffle.

 

“I don’t feel good.” Her voice was so small.

 

“Yeah?” She nodded and he reached an arm into the tub to move some of the hair from her face. “What hurts?”

 

“My belly.”

 

“Yeah?” She nodded again.

 

“And my head feels like it’s breaking.”

 

“Oh my god.” Harry closed his eyes. “Oh. My. God.”  He pushed his hair back and thought about what an idiot he was. Like he really wanted to punch himself in the face. “You’re hungry. You’re just hungry.” He stood up. “You’ve been here for like a day an a half and you haven’t eaten anything. I’ll be right back okay, I’m just going downstairs I’ll be right back.”

 

He didn’t know what to feed her. She was half person. So human food should be a thing she eats. But she was also a mermaid so maybe she had the appetite of a fish? What did fish eat anyway, other fish? Seaweed? Smaller creatures of the deep that couldn’t be seen with naked eye? There were some cherries in the fridge. Some crackers in the cabinet. Cherries and crackers really didn’t sound like a good combination. Harry decided that he would just feed her the same things he was feeding himself until they found out what she did and didn’t like. But he still needed to find her a snack at least. Something to hold her over.

 

So he pulled a page out of one of the best Disney Pixar movies to exist. Monsters, Inc.

 

He got some cheerios.

 

And she loved them.

 

Which was good, because now Harry knew what they were eating for breakfast tomorrow.

 

She liked what he had made for dinner. Which was also good. He found a sheet of paper once he returned to the kitchen with their dirty plates, deciding to make a list of the foods she liked. Cheerios being first on the list, strawberry soda and vegetable stir-fry followed. He made a note on the side that carrots and peppers were not something she enjoyed.

 

Underlined and bolded.

 

Because she spit them out with complete disgust and nearly started crying again when she tasted them.

 

~

Refilling the tub was a tough job. The first time.

 

Of course after all her splashing the amount of water she rested in would decrease. Harry hadn’t expected her to be frightened by the sound the faucet made when he turned it on. And he really hadn’t expected her to push herself over and out of the tub just to get away from it.

 

And that’s how Harry ended up cradling half a mermaid who was screaming and insisting that they leave the bathroom.

 

She was fine after a while. After he reassured her that it wasn’t alive and trying to kill them.

 

~

 

A few days later Harry found himself in the bath section of a home furnishing store, staring at the different bathtub cushions they had on display as an employee told him all about them. Two boxes of cheerios and a package of sugar coated donuts held against his chest.

 

“You can like, get them in any color.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah. I saw someone get purple ones the other day.”

 

“Interesting.”

 

“So which can I get you?”

 

“Oh no I’m not getting one. Not today.”

 

~

 

Harry left the store with the donuts pressed against his hip and both cereal boxes tucked under one arm. Under the other was a fish shaped pillow he had seen the kid’s section. He hadn’t planned on buying anything, but it was the same colors as her tail and labeled as a bath toy, so he couldn’t bring himself to walk away without it.

 

~

 

“I’m calling him now.” Niall placed his phone on speaker and leaned against Lou’s desk as she looked through the appointments scheduled for that afternoon.

 

“Hello?” Lou looked at Niall as he stared at his phone, his face scrunching up in confusion. A woman had answered the phone. Which wasn’t right, because Harry lived alone and wasn’t currently in a relationship with anyone. Especially that would be answering his house phone.

 

“He- hello?”

 

“Hi!”

 

“Um, is Harry there?”

 

“Harry?” She said his name like she knew who Niall was asking about. But how? Why was she answering his phone? Who was she? “What’s your name?”

 

“My name?” He made a face at Lou when the woman on the phone ignored his question. “I’m Niall.”

 

“Niall? That’s a funny name.”

 

“Um, yeah.” Lou was trying not to laugh and Niall shrugged his shoulders as his confusion grew. “What’s your name?”

 

“Oh…my name?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Um….a shirt?” Lou snorted.

 

“Your name is shirt?” What.

 

“I, it’s nothing. I have to go. Sorry.” And then she was gone. She hung up and Niall stared at his phone.

 

“What the hell”

 

“Maybe you dialed the wrong number?” Lou wrote ‘a shirt’ down on one of her post it notes and stuck it to the bottom of her computer screen.

 

“I called from contacts.”

 

“Maybe he changed it?”

 

“But she…I’m so confused.”

 

Five minutes later the shop’s door opened and Lou let out a not so subtle laugh and pointed for Niall to turn and see who had entered. Standing there sipping on a light green smoothie with his cereal, donuts, and fish was Harry himself. Which was just perfect really. Since Niall was confused about this phone call.

 

“Is that a shamrock?” Lou rolled her eyes. Niall would ask the unimportant questions first.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Nice.” Lou reached over the counter to smack Niall’s arm, raising her eyebrows and miming a phone before motioning towards Harry. “Oh right! Um, so, Harry.”

 

"Yeah?"

 

“Did you change your number?”

 

“No, I would’ve text you if I changed it.” He shook his cell phone at Niall as if the answer was obvious.

 

“No I mean like your house number.”  He shook his head. “Cause I like, just called you, your house phone, and you didn’t answer, clearly because you weren’t home but…someone answered.” Harry’s face paled at the idea of having to explain the mermaid at his house to Niall and Lou. “It was a girl. And she said her name was shirt.”

 

Harry laughed. Like, really hard. And very loud. He nearly fell over. It was so funny. He really needed to find a name for her. He hadn’t meant to drag it out this long but it was a difficult task. He promised himself he’d sit down and pick out a name with her as soon as he got home.

 

And then he stopped laughing. Niall and Lou looked at each other, even more confused than before. Harry hadn’t explained anything, found the situation a lot funnier than expected, and now looked like someone has killed his dog.

 

“Oh shit.”

 

“What?”

 

“When did you call?”

 

“Um,” Niall checked his phone for the time. “Like 7 minutes ago? Maybe 9.”

 

“Oh fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.”

 

“Harry,”

 

“It’s nothing. I have to go. Sorry.” He left his smoothie on the counter and rushed out of the shop, leaving Niall and Lou with a familiar reply.

 

“That’s the exact same thing that she said.”

 

~

 

Harry ran through the park to get back to his apartment. Avoiding as many stop signs and crosswalks as possible. He didn’t really have time to stop and obey pedestrian laws or risk sitting in any type of traffic he might’ve encountered had he taken a taxi or the bus. He looked like a madman sure, with his food and big fish, but he kind of was in that moment.

 

“Oh please please, please please please.”

 

After nearly breaking his own door down Harry stumbled into his apartment. Cheerio boxes falling to the floor in the front hallway.       

 

“Mermaid?!” Donuts barely making it onto the kitchen counter.

 

“Please please please.” The fish lost somewhere on the steps up to his room. His face was red from running and his breathe heavy. And while there was a good chance of him having an asthma attack, it was the last thing on his mind when he saw the end of her tail on his floor through the doorway.

 

“No. No no no. Fuck. No.” Her hair was still wet and her skin damp. Her tail was mostly dry. The phone was sitting on the desk on the other side of his bedroom. The fluff of the carpet was pressed down with water, creating a path from the bathroom to the phone.

 

Lifting her up Harry carried her back into the bathroom as quickly as possible, almost slipping on the wet floor. He placed her back in the tub, turned slightly so her tail would be completely submerged in water, and turned the shower head on to help cover the rest of her body.

 

“Come on.” He shook her shoulders gently, “This can’t be happening.” Pushed the hair off her face. “Please mermaid.” His hair and face were wet from leaning under the shower. “Please please please.” He lifted her eyelids, as if that would somehow help. ”Come on mermaid.” He lightly slapped her cheek a few times before squishing her face, making her mouth pucker. Had this not been a serious situation, Harry would’ve laughed at the fact that he’d just gave the mermaid a fish face.

 

A big gasp. More air taken in than needed and her eyes were open. She coughed repeatedly and pushed his hand away as her body jerked, causing the water to shift, sloshing out of the tub and drenching Harry even more than he already was. He stayed on the floor, leaning against the chair and focusing on his breathing, thankful that the mermaid wasn’t dead. Deciding that it was more than likely, Harry crawled towards the bathroom door, reaching out to open the drawer of his bedside table and grabbing his inhaler. She watched him as he rested against the door and raised the funny tube to his mouth, pressed down on the top and held his breath.

 

She wanted to ask what it was. Why he was doing that. But she couldn’t find her voice.

 

So they sat silently, staring at each other from across the bathroom.

 

~

 

Harry stayed on the bathroom floor for the rest of the day, lining the edge of the tub with cheerios for her to grab.

 

“So like, you can’t leave the tub.” He shoved a handful of cheerios into his mouth as she waited for him to place more on the tub.

 

“You’re not in the tub.” Harry smiled as she picked up the first cheerio before he could put a second one down.

 

“I’m not in the tub. Cause I’m like, completely human. So I don’t have to be in water constantly. But you’re only half human?” Terminology. “The other half is fish….so you need to be in water.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah.” He shook the box and looked inside before tossing it across the across the room after not feeling any more cereal in it. “So, um, also…oh wait!” He got up and left the bathroom, going down the first mini flight of stairs to where the pillow fish had landed. He picked it up and fluffed it as he walked back upstairs. He held it behind his back as he reentered the bathroom, smiling still. “I uh, I got you something.”

 

“Yeah?” She was excited.

 

“Yeah. Close your eyes.” She closed her eyes and he moved closer to her, crouching next to the tub and holding the fish in front of her face on the edge. “Okay.” She opened her eyes and smiled bigger. “It’s a fish.”

 

“It’s the same color as me!”

 

“Yeah that’s why I, yeah. It is.” She took it from him and hugged it against her chest.

 

“What were you saying earlier?”

 

"Huh?"

 

“You were saying something and then you stopped and went to get this fishy.”

 

“Oh yeah….um right so, we have to find you a name. Cause you told my friends your name was shirt. And shirt isn’t really a name.”

 

“Niall.”

 

“What?”

 

“He said his name was Niall. It’s an odd name. It’s not like Harry. I like your name better.” Harry laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

 

~

 

“I don’t even know how to go about finding a name for you.” He was looking up names on his computer. He had made sure that she knew not to splash while he had it next to tub with him. “I suppose I could just read a bunch of names and you tell me if you like it or not. Or I could just come up with something and then you can say yes or no. Or you could come up with something…not sure how well that would turn out.”

 

“Why don’t we do all of them? I’ll think, and you can think. And if that doesn’t work then you can look on that thingy.” She didn’t fully understand his computer. She told him that he could explain it to her another day.

 

“Okay.”

 

~

 

“I can’t think of anything.”

 

“I figured.”

 

“I mean, I can think of stuff, but it’s like, just the funny words you’ve told me. Like dolphin. And, waffle….sugar.”

 

“Well. I’ve never heard of anyone named dolphin or waffle.  I’ve never met of anyone named sugar but, if you wanna be called sugar, we can call you sugar.” She smiled at him, shook her head. “I actually don’t have anything either. I was thinking maybe, Blue? Cause of your tail.” She lifted her tail from the water and watched the water roll off of it. “Or Rose, cause of the eye thing. I mean I suppose we could seriously consider Sugar as an option.” She shrugged. “Shall I just google mermaid names now?”

 

“I guess.”

 

“Okay let’s see.” Typing ‘mermaid names’ into the search bar Harry got plenty of results for fantasy name generators and quizzes. Which honestly wasn’t helpful, but there was at least 2 good links. “Um, Beatrice?” She shook her head. “Madison?” Another no. “Lorelei? Molly? Molly’s a pretty popular name.” He was trying. And she was still saying no. He scrolled through more names, not bother to say any out loud. Mainly because he couldn’t pronounce most of them (mermaids only seem to exist in Greece apparently) but also because none of them really seemed to fit her. “What about Lola? I think you kind of look like a Lola.”

 

“It certainly sounds nice. I don’t know.”

 

“Pearl?” He really didn’t want to call her Pearl.

 

“Pearl’s are in oysters and clams!” Harry looked up from his computer screen to see his smiling mermaid.

 

“Yes! Oh my god yes! You knew that!”

 

“I knew that!”

 

“Yeah!” This was exciting. “Wait, wait. You knew that. You knew that, but you didn’t…you didn’t know what a dolphin was. But you know where to find pearls?” Her eyebrows lowered and her smile shrunk as if she knew that it didn’t add up. That she knew one thing but no the other. “You know what, we’re not gonna worry about it.” She nodded. “ Do you like Pearl?”

 

“Oh my god no.”

 

“Okay, good.” He wouldn’t have to call her Pearl. “How about…..Sabrina? Or Oona, Diana”

 

“Ooooona.” She was giggling.

 

“Hm?”

 

“Say Oooona again.”

 

“Oona.” She laughed again, and splashed her tail in excitement. Harry made a strange noise and lifted his laptop as far away from them as he possibly could in the moment. Realizing what she’d done the mermaid sunk low into the water until only her eyes could be seen over the edge of the tub.

 

“I forgot I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s okay, I don’t think any water got out of the tub so.” She looked sad. “Really, it’s okay. I’m not mad or anything, nothing got ruined.”

 

“Okay.” She sat back up and stared at her fish.

 

“So um, “ She looked up at him. “Oona?” She giggled again and nodded her head.

 

“I do like that one.”

 

“More than Lola?”  Yes. “More than Sugar?” She laughed.

 

“Oh I think so.”

 

“Alright then. Oona.”

 

“Oooona.” She laughed as she dragged out the o’s.

 

“Ooooooona” He couldn’t resist playing along, knowing he’d a get a good giggly laugh out of her.

 

And it was such a lovely sound.

 

~

 

Days past and things were fine.

 

Harry would go to work. Oona didn’t endanger her life.

 

He bought the cushions for the tub so Oona wasn’t uncomfortable. In a shade of lilac that became pink if you stared at it for too long that matched the odd stripes on her tail. And she loved it.

 

Harry figured he would have to clean the bathroom at some point. Which meant either carrying her downstairs to the guest bathroom, or buying a kiddie pool and setting it up in his room. In front of the TV maybe.

 

So that’s what he did.

 

He bought an inflatable kiddie pool. It was light green with little alligators on it. It was pretty cute and he knew Oona would like it. He was showing her pictures of dolphins online one day and a misplaced shark appeared amongst the results google images had to offer. She liked its teeth. Said they looked like hers. (But they didn’t?) And decided that she’d like a little shark to go along with her dolphin and fish.  And while on that day he couldn’t find her a nice little shark, he did find shark wall decals. He only hoped they would stick to the tile of the shower wall.

 

~

 

Gemma broke her polaroid camera a good while ago. And had yet to replace it. So, on the day that she and Niall were going to spend in the park, she asked her little brother if she could borrow his. Because she had cute Hello Kitty frames that would be perfect for their outing.

 

In true Gemma fashion of volunteering other people to do things, she said that Niall to drive over and pick the camera up. And of course Harry objected. If Niall came over, Niall would somehow find out about Oona. And Harry wasn’t quite ready for anyone else to know about her. So he told Gemma that he would meet them at the park with it, since it was half way between their homes and her destination anyway.

 

“Oona?” He walked into the bathroom with his phone in one hand and camera in the other. The shower curtain was pulled shut half way so he couldn’t see her face, though he could see her tail tapping against the wall. “Oona.”  She pulled the curtain back to look at him, a small smile on her face. “I have to take this to my sister.” He lifted the camera and her expression changed. “It shouldn’t take too long, so I’ll be back soon.”

 

“What is that?” She nodded her head at his raised hand.

 

“It’s a camera.”

 

“What does it do?”

 

“It takes pictures. Like,” he would have to explain what a polaroid was. Which he really didn’t have time for. “Here um, do this.” He slipped his phone into his pocket and held up a peace sign close to face, waiting for her to do the same. “Okay and, where’s your dolphin?” She lifted it from the water and held it out for him to take. He took it from her but reach across the tub to place it in the small cut out in the wall right above her head that usually held soap. “An maybe hold the fish.”

 

“Like this?”

 

“Yep. Now smile.” She did and he lifted the camera to his face. She flinched slightly and giggled when the flash went off, not moving until Harry lowered the camera from his face an told her it was done. A little card emerged from the top of the camera and Harry pulled it out, holding it up for her to see. The frame was a dingy white color, with a blank rectangular space. She didn’t get it.

 

“There’s nothing there.” Harry laughed lightly.

 

“Not yet.” He set it down on the sink and moved back over to the door. “I’m gonna take this now.” He motioned to the camera again. “It won’t take long, and when I get back we’ll check it out okay?”

 

“Okay.”

 

~

 

Somehow Harry and Oona managed to spend an hour looking at sea creatures on google images. The polaroid he had taken of her earlier had been covered in plastic wrap and taped to the wall behind her. She was thrilled with the outcome of the picture. She didn’t understand it, but it made her happy. And Harry reminded himself to buy some more film as soon as possible.

 

“What is that?” Oona pointed at the screen with the hand that was completely dry from hanging out of the tub.

 

“That’s a baby octopus.”

 

“A baby one of that?!” She pointed at fully grown octopus a few rows up.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“But it’s so tiny! And that’s so big!” Harry just laughed. “Oh but it’s so cute though.”

 

~

 

“Harry?” He looked up from the book he was reading quietly to see Oona looking at him.

 

“What’s wrong?” She was picking at the fish as she looked away from him. “Loose string?”

 

“No.”  She pushed the fish away from her and leaned toward him “Um, you said you had a sister.”

 

“Yeah. Her name’s Gemma. Why?”

 

“Do you have a picture of her?” Harry smiled and nodded his head.

 

“Yeah, do you wanna see it?” Oona smiled and let out a giggly ‘yes’ as he set his book down. Pulling out his phone he went through his photos to find the most recent picture of Gemma he had. He shifted closer to the tub and turned the phone around for her to see the two women on the screen in a photo that was taken a month and a half ago. Oona smiled when she recognized the couch they were sitting on as the one in Harry’s bedroom, feeling a sense of familiarity despite not knowing the people in the image.

 

“That’s Gemma,” he pointed the girl with the double colored hair. Dark at the roots and blonde at the ends. Oona could see the similar features between Gemma and Harry, but thought she also shared a slight resemblance with a jaguar. Or at least the jaguar Harry had shown her a few days ago. “And this,” he pointed to the older woman, her hair was very dark and her eyes bright. Oona easily saw Harry’s looks in this woman. He looked a lot like her. “That’s our mum. Anne.”

 

“They’re very pretty.” The deepest dimples his face could manage.

 

~

 

It wasn’t very fair that Oona was confined to the bathroom all the time. It wasn’t very fair that she was alone all day while he was at work. So Harry tried to spend as much time with Oona as possible when he was home.

 

“Hey.” He stepped into the bathroom with his computer in hand. She wasn’t doing anything. There wasn’t much for her to do really.

 

“Hi.” She was looking at him funny, though he wasn’t sure why.

 

“Um, I was thinking we could watch a movie.”

 

“A movie?”

  
“Yeah.” He leaned against the outside of the tub and pulled the chair close to them before setting his computer down on it. A bright blue frame displayed on the screen.  “It’s called The Little Mermaid.”

 

“Mermaid?” She had been looking at him the whole time, but as Harry turned to look at her he noticed that she hadn’t been looking at his face.

 

“Yeah.” He turned back to the computer to skip through the Walt Disney Pictures castle intro and get to the beginning of the movie. In the reflection on the computer screen he watched her reach a hand up to the back of head before he felt her lightly poke the bun he had put his hair in for the day. He pretended to be busy setting the movie up, when he felt her touch the elastic that was holding it together. He turned to look at her when she lowered her hand without saying anything. She just stared him. So he smiled at her. “You ready?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

~

 

“She loves him.” Oona’s head rested on her arms that were folded on the edge of tub next to Harry’s shoulders. Ariel spying on Prince Eric and his dog as they danced around the ship deck.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“A human?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

~

 

“Well gosh, I wish I knew a sea witch! I would love to have legs. At least for a day.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah, then I could go with you when you leave.”

 

~

 

“Okay, ready?” Harry was leaning over the tub, one arm wrapped around Oona’s back as the other slipped under her tail. He hoped he wouldn’t slip or drop her.

 

“Yeah.” She hooked an arm around his neck and rested the other on her stomach and he lifted her out of the tub.  Leaving the bathroom Harry carried her over the space between his bed and the small couch where he had set the pool up. He asked her to try not to splash but told her that if she did it would be alright because he had layered plenty of towels across the carpet.

 

“It shouldn’t take me that long to clean the bathroom but it will be a little while, do you want me to turn the TV on?”

 

“The what?” Right.

 

“Um, like, you know when we watched The Little Mermaid the other day? On my computer?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“It’s a bit like that.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“I can put on another movie if you want? I have one I think you’ll like.”

 

“Okay.”

 

~

 

Oona fell asleep on the movie.

 

Being out of the bathroom was oddly tiring for her.

 

Her weight shifted as she slept and a side of the inflatable pool dipped dangerously under her, threatening to spill all the water it held. Harry lifted her gently, thinking about the last time he had carried her like this, and was thankful that she wasn’t near death this time.

 

~

 

Somehow Harry got stuck watching his sister’s cat for the weekend. Which usually was fine, he loved that cat. But now he had Oona. And with a cat that followed him everywhere, he wasn’t so sure about keeping him.

 

But when he left work on Friday, Gemma was outside waiting for him. Leaning against his car with her cat cradled in her arms like a little baby, she hooked his little leash around Harry’s wrist and placed him on his shoulder. Thanking him and reminding him to call their mother she pinched his cheek and patted his face before heading down the steep steps to the tattoo shop.

 

He took the cat off the leash when they got home and headed to the kitchen to get the small Persian some water and maybe attempt to have a discussion with him about new boundaries in uncle Harry’s house. He turned to set the bowl on the ground and noticed the cat wasn’t sat behind him. He wasn’t in the kitchen. He wasn’t in the living room. He didn’t seem to be downstairs at all. Which meant he was upstairs. He couldn’t remember if he had closed the bathroom door completely before he left that morning, but if Harry was lucky, the little fur ball would be rolling around on the bed and not snooping around in the bathroom.

 

“Oh no.” Standing on the top step Harry stared at his cat free bed and the cracked bathroom door. “Oona?” It was silent as he moved towards the bathroom, pushing the door open to find the mermaid and Persian staring at each other. Oona was low in the bathtub; the cat perched on the outer corner next to her tail that was pushed higher against the opposite wall.

 

“What is it?” She didn’t break their eye contact.

 

“It’s a cat.”

 

“A what?”

 

“Like a tiny jaguar, but safer.”

 

“What does it do?”

 

“Um…nothing?” What did domestic cats do? “You know how in The Little Mermaid, Prince Eric had that dog?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“It’s like that, only it’s not a dog. It’s a cat.” This was a terrible explanation. “They just like, keep people company and make them happy.”

 

“Oh.”

 

~

 

“What’s its name?” Harry sat next to the tub, watching as Oona gently moved her tail back and forth. The cat’s head following its direction as it went, lightly tapping it the fin with its paw whenever Oona stopped moving it.

 

“It’s uh…I actually have no clue what this cat’s name is.”

 

“Does it not have one?”

 

“No, it does. It’s Gemma’s cat, and she calls him Napoleon. But Niall calls him Razzleberry and he responds to both so”

 

“Your friend Niall?”

 

“Yeah…they’re together.” She just looked at him. “They live together.”

 

“Like us?’ She looked away from the cat to smile at Harry, who had just turned his attention back to the cat as he processed her question.

 

“Ssssure….yeah. I guess.” Oona laughed and he looked back at her smiling face. “Of course, neither of them are confined to the bathtub all day.” She laughed louder and leaned her head back against the wall.

 

“Cause I’m the only mermaid in your life!”

 

~

 

The first time Oona had seen Harry shirtless, it was because she had forced him out of the striped button up he had been wearing. In the first few days with Harry she had taken some time to examine and question the tattoos on his arm, but then that she had spotted the birds on his chest, she demanded to see all the tattoos she hadn’t already seen.

 

“I’ll have to take my shirt off.”

 

“Are you shy?” She smiled at him and they both reach up to push hair out of their faces. “I’ll take my shirt off too,”

 

“No! No no. You, you keep that on.” Her smiled widened. “You keep your shirt on.” She giggled.

 

The second time she’d seen him shirtless, it was because she had accidently knocked the chair and clock over, and he came rushing upstairs, half dressed from the shower he had just taken, to make sure something terrible hadn’t happened.

 

The third time was because he had just come back from a workout in the building’s downstairs gym. He pulled it off after calling out to let her know that he was back and heading for a shower, but then she asked if he could bring her ‘one of those happy cold thingys’ (a popsicle) before. And he did of course, because ‘happy cold thingys’ was kind of really adorable.

 

Before Oona, Harry was almost always shirtless within his flat. But now he tried to be clothed most of the time since he figured it wasn’t very fair that he made her wear a shirt all the time. Though it was a bit different considering without shirts she would be way more exposed than he’d be.

 

After forgetting that he needed to do laundry more often than usual now that he was sharing his wardrobe with a mermaid and a rather awkward, on Harry’s behalf, talk about why he made her wear a shirt, Harry returned to his pre-Oona in home uniform of shirtless wonder. Mainly because she told him that she didn’t care if he did or didn’t have on a shirt, and that it was his home anyway.

 

~

 

Once again Harry sat against the tub reading while Oona did pretty much nothing. She had pulled the curtain shut halfway after he pushed their dinner plates away and opened his book. He could still see her, since he was at the opposite end of the tub, but he’d asked her if she wanted him to go. She didn’t.

 

“I like watching you read Harry.”

 

“Um, okay.” He returned to his book and they sat in silence. He got through at least 5 pages before Oona spoke again.

 

“Harry?”

 

“Yeah babe?” He didn’t look up from his book this time, so he missed the quick happy scrunch of her nose, though he heard the barely there giggle she couldn’t help but let out whenever her called her any sort of endearing nickname.

 

“Can we take another picture?” she had acquired several more polaroids after the first he had taken of her. One of her bowl of cheerios sitting on the floor next to the tub. Harry smiling nicely. The dolphin. Harry with the dolphin on his head, his shoulders and hands raised. Her and Razzle. A close up of Harry’s eye, a bit of his curls and the corner of his big cheesy smile, slightly blurry as he decided to ruin a picture she was taking of him by getting way too close to the camera. Another of her and Razzle. A series of pictures showing Harry from the eyes up looking at the dolphin sitting on the edge of the tub, one squinty eye and mouth wide ‘attacking’ the dolphin, ‘eating’ the dolphin. Monster shark he called it.

 

“…Yeah.” He closed his book and set it down on top of the chair before getting up to get the camera from the desk in his room. The curtain was still half closed when he returned but Oona had shifted around in the tub so was sitting on the other side, arms folded on the edge and her chin resting on her hands.

 

“You ready?” He stood in front of the open section of the tub, getting ready to raise the camera to his face when she scrunched her nose and shook her head.

 

“No like, one of us.”

 

“You and me?”

 

“Yeah.” She turned her head to look at her wall of plastic wrapped polaroids. “I mean, I don’t have one of us together.”

 

“Yeah, alright then.” He sat down and leaned back against the tub, raising the camera up in front of them. “You ready?” He turned to find her face right next to his, looking at him. She blinked slowly and smiled at him, nodding once before turning back to the camera. “Okay. One, two…” She wrapped an arm around his neck, elbow on one shoulder with her sharp nails digging slightly into the other. He paused his counting, thinking for just a second and praying to god that this photo didn’t come out too blurry, he removed one of his hands from the camera. Sliding it under hers that rested on his shoulder he laced their fingers together and gave her hand a slight squeeze as she pressed her cheek against his. “Three.”

 

He took the photo.

 

“Should we take another? Just for good luck?”

 

“One for you and one for me?”

 

~

 

Harry left the bathroom after Oona fell asleep. He set his photo down on his nightstand and put the camera back on the desk before taking their plates downstairs. He thought about her as he cleaned up the kitchen and turned all the lights off.

 

She hadn’t been with him long now, but it was enough to notice a change in her. She didn’t seem as happy as she was before. She wasn’t, not happy. She just wasn’t, as happy. He didn’t know what it was, but he planned to find out. He loved Oona’s near constant, because confusion was often expressed, happiness.

 

He pulled Oona’s door shut after checking on her one last time for the night and picked up the small polaroid. Carrying it over to his desk he found a good pen and wrote, in the smallest letters he could manage, just under the right bottom corner of the photo, ‘me & her.’ He pressed the bottom of his palm against it to pick up any excess ink that could smear before turning it over to write the date on the back. When it was done he grabbed his journal and slipped the polaroid in between two pages for safekeeping.

 

And then he went to bed.

 

~

 

Harry came home later than usual one night. And Oona didn’t like it.

 

She watched the clock as 6:10 passed without a shout from Harry that he was home. She sat calmly, staring at the clock for about thirty minutes before she started tapping the fin at the end of her tail against the wall.

 

It was nearly 7:30 when she heard him call her name, his heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. He held a large paper bag in one arm as he walked into the bathroom, a big smile on his face and a few heavy breaths from climbing the stairs two a time with a full bag.

 

“Oona! Guess, what.” He sent a final (for now) text to Lou insisting that he really did just want to take bubble bath and that her help on which smell the best and had the best bubbles was very much appreciated before putting his phone away to look at the mermaid. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Um, nothing.” They stared at each other for a moment. Harry knew she was lying, he just wasn’t sure if he should push it or not. Maybe she wasn’t ready to tell him whatever she upset about. Maybe she didn’t want to tell him at all.  He sighed and set the bag on the floor before sitting down next to the tub. He was going to push it.

 

“Oona, come on babe.” She didn’t giggle. “Talk to me, what’s going on? Tell me what’s wrong.”

 

“You weren’t here.” She moved from leaning against the back wall to rest her head on the edge of the tub. “It was past 6:10 and you weren’t here and, and I didn’t know what was happening.”

 

“Oh yeah. Sorry about that Oona, I didn’t plan that. If I had known I’d be this late I would’ve”

 

“I mean what if something had happened to you?!” She cut him off, the conversation becoming more serious than Harry had originally thought. “I would never know! And if something had happened to you then…what would happen to me?” Harry frowned. “ I’d be all alone. Just in here….to do what? I can’t go downstairs.”

 

“Well someone would come check on the place if something happened.”

 

“And do what when they find me?! You said I wasn’t supposed to exist. Not in this world.” They were silent for a moment. “Who would find me? What would they do to me?”

 

“Oona,”

 

“Not everyone is a good as you Harry. I’ve seen Jurassic Park.” They were silent again. One of Oona’s arms hung over the edge of the tub, Harry watching as she pulled at a few of the strings from the hole in his jeans.

 

“Oona,” he placed his hand over hers and she stopped pulling at the strings. She stared at their hands for a moment before turning hers over to hold his. “Oona.” She finally looked at him. “I’m really sorry about coming home so late, and making you worry like this. And I wish there was something I could say, right now in this moment, that could help ease this worry…but that’s the truth isn’t it. I’ve been able to come this far in my life, without any serious accidents or life threatening situations. Thank my lucky stars for that.” He laughed slightly even know it wasn’t funny and looked away from Oona’s face, focusing on their hands instead.  “But that doesn’t mean that it can’t happen. I’m only human, ya know. There’s always a 50/50 chance that something could happen when I leave, and I won’t come back. Which sucks. Especially now, with you. Cause you’re like, just here. Like you can’t leave this tub, like you have to be in it. You need to be in water. It’s not like you can just walk around and stuff, and get the things you want or need. Like I do that for you. You depend on me to survive. I’m responsible for you, if something happened to me….then you would….”

 

He didn’t like this. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. Thought it was something that needed to be considered. What would they do to her? If someone found her before she died of starvation. Or from dehydration because she tried to get food herself but couldn’t get back to some source of water in time. What if they found her then? On the floor somewhere downstairs. What then? Would they dissect her? Maybe he should just move everything into the bathroom. Bring all the snacks upstairs. Get a mini fridge.

 

“Harry.” He looked up from their hands.

 

She had put her fears in him now.

 

“Should we have a hug then?” She nodded. He readjusted his body so he was closer to tub without his legs in the way and held his arms open for Oona. Harry could feel the water from her skin and hair soak through his shirt when she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her head against his chest. He picked up a strand of her tangled hair and reminded himself to do something about it the next day. “Are you hungry?”

 

“Um, yeah.”

 

“Yeah me too.”

 

~

 

Harry stared at the ceiling above his bed thinking about the conversation he and Oona had earlier. He couldn’t sleep. The dishes had been done. Leftovers from the pasta dish he made were put away. All the lights were turned off. Oona was asleep. But Harry found himself still awake hours later. Oona was right. Something could happen to him when he leaves the house. And no one would know that she was in the bathroom. He needed to tell someone.

 

~

 

Harry made Oona a smoothie for breakfast. Well, he made them both smoothies, but since Oona never had a smoothie, hers was kind of important. A super sweet smoothie. Dulce de leche. He really shouldn’t have made it for breakfast. But after last night and the fact that she’d only had one piece of candy in the past two weeks (which was the longest time without it since her first piece) Harry decided that a sweet smoothie would be just the thing to help make today better than the last. Along with the idea/surprise he had failed to tell her about.

 

“Hey Oon?” He pushed the door open with his foot to find Oona watching him from the tub. As usual. “I made you something.”

 

“You’re always making me something.”

 

“This is true, but this is different.”  He sat down in front of the tub an handed the tan colored drink to her, taking a sip of the smoothie he had made for himself. She took it from him with caution. It looked pretty.  And it smelled good.

 

“What is it?”

 

“It’s a called smoothie. It’s like a juice, but not. It’s thicker than normal juice. Cause it’s like, it’s different stuff like blended together.” She had that look on her face. The one where you know someone isn’t into it. She wasn’t into it. “Just taste it.” She took a tiny sip from the drink but made no signs of whether she liked it or not. He was going to ask if she’d even tasted it but then she slapped her tail against the wall, causing water to splash out of the tub and took another sip.

 

“This is so good!” She took another sip before smiling at him, laughing as he took a sip of his own drink. “What does yours taste like?”

 

“Oh uh, no no no you, you wouldn’t like it.”

 

“And how do you know that?”

 

“Because I know you. Trust me, you’re not gonna like it.” A pointed look and Harry was holding his smoothie out for Oona to taste. A sip. A loud sound of disgust. Smoothie spit out on the floor. She nearly knocked the cup right out of his hand with her flailing arm.

 

“That is disgusting what is that?!” She made another retching sound and took a dramatic sip from her own smoothie. Hearing Harry’s laugh made her laugh as well even though she was glaring at him.

 

“It’s banana ginger.”

 

“Don’t drink that.” He raised the straw to his mouth slowly, making a dramatic show of his decision to continue drinking his smoothie. “Noooo don’t do it. No no no no no.” She could see the smoothie level lower slightly as some of it traveled through the light green straw he had. “Nooooooo.”

 

“I like it.” Oona scrunched her nose up and stuck her tongue out in disgust before drinking more of her smoothie. “I was right though. You didn’t like it.”

 

“Yeah well,” she actually didn’t have a good reply. “Whatever.” Harry laughed again and set his smoothie down next to him.

 

“Sooo okay, remember how I came home late yesterday and you like freaked out and I was like ‘it’s okay’ but it wasn’t okay and then started to freak out and then it just-“

 

“Harry no.“ She said his name as if she was going to have an asthma attack. Which of course made Harry realize that she could have a medical condition and he has no way of knowing. She could have food allergies. What if he feeds her the wrong thing and she dies while he’s at work or sleeping? “I don’t wanna talk about-“

 

“No no no, it’s fine. We’re not gonna talk about it.” Her shoulders relaxed but her face still showed her sudden distress. “I mean, we won’t talk about it today. But we will talk about it.” She scrunched up her face into the typical expression of someone who was about to start whining in protest. “Oona please babe. It’s not a fun topic I know, but it’s a very real one. It brings up some good points and also, well, it bothers you. If something’s bothering you I want you say something cause it’s like, when you bottle up your worries and fears inside it’s not healthy and it can make you feel like, not good. I take care of you Oona, I don’t like it when you’re upset ya know. It’s my responsibility to make sure you’re alright, so we have to talk about this stuff. So we can find solutions to these things and help ease your worries and stuff.” Slow blink from Harry and a poke to her elbow that rested on the edge of the tub. “Okay?”

 

“Okay.” With another slow blink he gave her a lazy smile and waited for one in return. He could tell she was fighting but he knew Oona. And he knew that if he smiled at her, for reasons he hadn’t yet figured out, Oona wouldn’t be about to resist smiling back.

 

And of course, she giggled.

 

And Harry laughed. And Oona’s giggle turned into a laugh.

 

And they just sat there an laughed for a bit.

 

“Oh! So yeah, I never got to tell you my” he reached over to grab the top of the paper bag he had set down on the floor the night before, pulling it over between him and the tub. “surprise.”

 

“Surprise?”

 

“It’s more like an idea but, you’re gonna love it okay.” She nodded her head in a silent ‘okay’ and waited for him to show her whatever was in the bag. “So I was at work right, I was making this smoothie. It had strawberries in it, so It was like, it was pink. And I was looking at the bubbles in it while I was blending an I thought about you.”  He looked at her as if she was suppose to connect the dots and know where he was going with this story.  She didn’t even know what she was supposed to be picturing when he spoke about putting things in a blender, because…well, she didn’t know what a blender was. So she just stared back at him.

 

“Um…why did-“

 

“I mean like, you’re in this tub. All day.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And that’s it.” What? “No like, you’re in this tub all the time. Which is not fun. Especially since everything that would be fun would break and or possibly kill you if it ended up in the water. So it’s like, there’s not much for you to do. All you’ve got is this tiny little dolphin.”

 

“And my fish.” She raised the fish. She loved that fish. Mainly because he gave it to her, but also because it was really soft.

 

“And your fish, yes.  But my point is, you’re bored everyday aren’t you?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Exactly! This is plain water, you’re in plain water. It’s so boring! And this….this actually doesn’t solve that problem. You’ll probably still be pretty bored most of the time. But it’s a great pick me up!”

 

“so what is it?” he reached into the bag an pulled out two large cork top bottles with a bit of straw tied just under the lip of each. They held a slightly murky, slightly shimmery liquid, one clear and the other a light purple. A clear sticker that displayed a swirly black font that read ‘Bubbles Bewitched’ surrounded by the little pinched diamonds typically used to represent sparkles was stuck to the front. “Um,”

 

“It’s a bubble bath.” Right. “This is why it took me so long to get home. I had to go all the way to a store that sold this stuff an then I was on the phone with my friend Lou, cause she loves this stuff, trying to figure out which brand had the best bubbles. And she couldn’t remember the names so I had to like, describe each bottle. And that was very time consuming. And then I was trying to figure out which colors you’d like the best. Cause they come in different colors. Like this one’s just normal bubbles but this one is like, purple. I also got a blue one and a pink one. I think you’ll really like this.”

 

“What do you do with it?” He handed her one of the bottles as she reached out for it.

 

“You pour a bit into the bath, and when it mixes with the water, it’ll create bubbles….do you wanna try one now?”

 

“Sure.” She handed the bottle back and waited for him to do whatever it was that needed to be done to get bubbles. Because honestly, she didn’t understand.

 

“Right, which color?”

 

“Oh um,” she looked into the bag and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.”

 

“Okay well, I guess let’s just do this one yeah?” He put the bottle of purple liquid back into the back and began pulling the topper off the clear bubbles. “Save the fun colors for another time yeah?”

 

“Okay.”

 

~

 

Oona in bubbles was the happiest most playful Oona Harry had seen since she’d been here.

 

~

 

Oona tried very hard to sit still as Harry carefully attempted to shape some bubbles into a moustache/beard combination on her face, a large amount of bubbles already on top of her head in a swirly soft serve ice cream type fashion. But she was very giggly.

 

“Harryyyy.”

 

“I know I know know, just give me a second okay. Let me go get the camera.” Oona giggled as Harry walked to the bathroom door to grab the camera off the bedside table. “Ready?” She titled her head back at an angle and made a kissy face, looking at Harry from the corner of her eye as he took the photo.

 

“Now can I do it?” Harry set the camera and photo back down near his bed, Oona waiting for the okay to move.

 

“Yeah go nuts Oon.” He smiled and watched as she sank into the tub. Completely hidden from head to tail beneath the bubbles. He waited a few seconds to see what she was going to do, but became confused when she didn’t surface. He wasn’t worried about her dying.

 

She was a mermaid.

 

He began to move towards the tub but stopped when he saw a pile of bubbles lift up, Oona’s eyes appearing beneath it. They disappeared just as quick and a giggle echoed throughout the bathroom in a way it never had before.

 

“What are you doing babe?” He laughed and made his way over to the tub. He got no reply but as soon as he was close enough Oona made her move. She shot up out of the water, the strength of her tail holding her up and roaring like some large animal making it’s final attack as bubbles went flying. Just as Harry began to lean back in an attempt to avoid the bubbles she locked her arms around his neck, and giggled lowly directly into his ear.

 

“Oona.” He knew. “Oona no.”  He felt her weight increase around his neck as she relaxed her tail and let out a louder laugh, pulling him down into the tub with her.

 

More bubbles flew into the air and a good deal of water splashed out of the tub. Oona’s laugh filled the room while Harry struggled to figure out where he was in correlation to her. He didn’t want to crush her tail. He didn’t want to hurt her. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin their fun by injuring her. He’d never seen Oona full on cry from pain, but he knew it’d make him cry too.

 

She pulled her tail from under him and Harry pushed himself to the opposite side of the tub, sitting sideways with his back against the longer wall and legs hanging over the edge. Oona folded up in front of her as if she had knees, her laughter slowing into little giggles and waited for him to catch his breath. She turned her body around to lean against his legs, her cheek pressed against his knee. He smiled at her and wiped some of the bubbles of her face before laughing.

 

“Quite the little kraken aren’t you?”

 

“Am I?”

 

“Mhmm.”  He pushed some bubbles off the top of her head. “You see, the kraken, which is just like a giant octopus, likes to take it’s many tentacles,” he grabbed her wrists an stretched her arms out above the water, “an wrap them around their prey,” he crossed her wrists in front of her face, blocking her view of his face, before lowering then suddenly back to the water. “And they’ll drag them deep down into the ocean for them to die. They’re quite the predator.”

 

Oona giggled again before pulling her wrist free and lunged the short distance towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck for a second time that night.

 

“I never want you to die Harry.” She squeezed him tighter as he returned the hug. ”I want you live forever. For as long as I live. Maybe longer too.”

 

~

 

“Harry?” He thought she was asleep. But he was clearly wrong as her voice drifted through the slightly cracked bathroom door. The lights were off and the house had been silent until she said his name. It made him wonder how she knew he was awake. Did this happen often? Did Oona regularly wake up in the middle of the night and want to talk? How many times had he not replied because he was sleeping? “Harry?”

 

“Oh, uh. Yeah?” Rolled onto his side and stared at the bathroom door even though he couldn’t see it. “Oona?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Did you know I was awake?”

 

“No.”

 

“Oh. Were you even asleep?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Oh…do you, do you often wake up in the middle of the night?”

 

“Sometimes.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

A few minutes passed in silence.

 

“Harry?”

 

“Oona?”

 

“Can we get a cat?” That was a loaded question.

 

It wasn’t really but it was 1:23 in the morning.

 

Can we get a cat.

 

We.

 

Can we.

 

A cat.

 

“What?”

 

“Can we get a cat? Like Razzle.” Razzle’s little cat brain was beyond fascinated by Oona. He sat in the bathroom the whole weekend. Only leaving to use his litter box and get food. He found each and every one of his toys that was were scattered and hidden around Harry’s flat an brought them to her. He tried countless times to get into the tub, deciding against it whenever one of his paws touched the water. Razzle was obsessed with Oona.

 

Harry figured it more than likely had something to do with the fact that Oona was half fish. And cats were often very taken with fish.

 

“Harry?”

 

“A cat?” He rolled back over and stared at his ceiling.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I don’t know Oona. I mean, it’s a nice idea actually. Cause then you won’t be like, alone all day or whatever. But some cats are like really mean. I’d hate to get a cat and then it hates us or, doesn’t want to hang out in the bathroom with you all the time the way Razzle did.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah.” He felt bad. “We’ll see though. We’ll see. I’ll figure something out.”

 

“Okay.”

 

~

 

“Have you noticed that Harry’s been a bit weird lately?” Lou had done her best at ignoring Niall for past 10 minutes that he’d been talking to her. Her focus was on her phone as she tried to beat her score on Robot Unicorn Attack 2, because she refused to pay for Robot Unicorn Attack. But this was definitely something she wanted to talk about.

 

“Yes oh my god.” She lost her round and set her phone down, leaning forward to become more a part of the small group. “I thought I was the only one who noticed.”

 

“Well what is he doing? I mean, he’s a bit of an odd ball anyway I haven’t noticed anything different.” That was a small lie. Sophia had noticed that Harry had been a little off lately. But she felt bad discussing him like this. When he couldn’t even defend himself.

 

“Well, to start there’s the fact that it’s been hot as crap the past two weeks and all he’s been wearing is long sleeved shirts.”

 

“That’s not too weird though.” Sophia was trying.

 

“Uh, we’re talking about Harry Soph.” Lou said as she picked up one of her many neon sticky notepads and waved her pen around. “Harry who takes his clothes off whenever possible. Harry who always rolls his sleeves up. Harry who is like, a little radiator and usually complains about being too warm.”

 

“Okay so,  that is a bit strange.”

 

“Exactly.” Lou pointed her pen at Sophia before writing the words clothes down on a sticky note, making a bullet point under it that specified his long sleeves before sticking it to the counter.

 

“Wait what are you doing?”

 

“Takin’ notes.”     

 

“ Ooh good idea.” Niall leaned over to the read the note and Sophia threw Liam’s water bottle at him.

 

“No! No. Guys we can’t do this. Harry is our friend. He’s family. Lou I’m almost certain Lux genuinely believes that Harry’s actually related to you and Niall you’re practically married to his sister.”

 

“Hey.”

 

“It’s true. We cannot sit here and analyze his life like this. Behind his back.” It was quiet for a moment. Sophia had a point.

 

“He smells like the ocean. And candy.”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Liam!” Sophia slapped his chest and glared at him while Lou made another sticky note.

 

“Soph,” She looked at her friends and let out a sigh. She tried.

 

“He searches for really weird shit on his phone.” Niall made one of those ‘aaah’ sounds in the background. The kind of sound you make when someone finally caves. “Like, he was searching for those little pools one time. Like pools for children. And then like, cartoon sea creatures. And just like, water and bath stuff.”

 

“D’you know,” Lou looked up from her sticky notes to think about the conversation she had with him “He was asking me about bubbles the other day. Like for bubble baths.“

 

“Oh!“ Niall slapped his hand against the counter. “Maybe he has a secret kid!”

 

“Niall…”

 

“No seriously. He’s looking at a bunch of stuff for kids. He smells like candy….maybe his baby mama doesn’t want the kid to see his tattoos….” He shrugged his shoulders as Sophia rolled her eyes. “And the fish! Oh my god the fish.”

 

“Yes! And the phone call!”

 

“Wait what fish? What phone call?”

 

“A while ago Niall called Harry’s house phone and some girl answered it and they had a really odd conversation and then she hung up on him.”

 

“And then Harry came strolling in with a big fish pillow and lots of cereal. And I was like ‘bro did you change your house number’ and he was like ‘no’ and I was like ‘then who’s the chick’ an he looked like scared for a second and then I told him about the conversation and he started laughing and then he looked scared again and was all ‘omg how long ago did this happen’ and then he took off running. I’m assuming he was going home but…”

 

“Cereal?”

 

“Huh! Yeah. A lot, of cheerios.”

 

“Speaking of Harry’s home.” Lou added another sticky note to the growing collection on the counter. “We spend a lot of time in Harry’s flat. Like we are always at Harry’s flat. Right?”

 

“Right.”

 

“Right so, when the last time you guys were at Harry’s?” Sophia and Liam looked at each other, not saying anything but their facial expressions was enough to know that they were somehow communicating and deciding on an accurate response.

 

“Probably not since we were all there.”

 

“When he randomly told us about his stupid tub right?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Exactly.” Lou dropped her pen and raised her arms in the air, leaning back in her chair. “I haven’t been since then either. Neither has Niall or Gemma.”

 

“Yeah we asked him to keep Razzleberry a few weekends ago and he insisted on dropping him off back at our place when we were back home even though we would drive right past his building.”

 

“An he never goes out with us anymore. Always says he’s gonna stay home this time. Like, he stays home every time.”

 

“Has Gemma said anything?” Everyone turned to look at Niall.

 

“I don’t think Gemma knows that Harry’s being weird. She’s been busy with work. She’s been put in charge of monitoring some otters so…yeah.” Okay. “Ya know what, we should go over there. We should just go over to Harry’s and hold him hostage or something until he tells us what’s going on. I think it’s a kid.”

 

“Niall that’s a terrible idea.” Sophia. The voice of reason. “An I think Harry would tell us if he fathered a child. I mean he told us about when those birds outside his bedroom window had babies. He was really excited about that. I think if he had a kid he would let us know. Or you would know at least. Since he’d have to tell Anne that she’s a grandmother and Gemma that she’s an aunt.”

 

“Yeah whatever. It’s a bit boring though. If it’s not a kid.”

 

“We literally have no clue what’s going on with him and you think it’s boring because we’ve ruled out it being a secret love child?”

 

“Yeah.” Sophia rolled her eyes and stood up from the bench, Liam following her lead.

 

“Well this has been eventful, I’m going home. Harry works tomorrow, so I’d put all these little stickies somewhere he won’t see them if he comes down to see you too. Which he usually does so, move them.” She searched through her bag for her car keys, dropping her phone into her bag as well and pushing the strap back into place on her shoulder. “I feel bad enough talking about him like this, I don’t want any evidence of it left around.”

 

“Yes yes mother Sophia. And we’ll be sure to ring Anne and let her know what a wonderful job you’re doing raising her son.” She grabbed the water bottle thrown at Niall earlier from Liam’s hands and threw it at him again.

 

“Oh shut up.”

 

~

 

A fish.

 

A Japanese fighting fish to be specific.

 

A fluorescent shade of light purple. A bit blue. Some pink. White maybe.

 

Big tail. Very pretty.

 

Harry held fish up in front of his face and watched it float in one location of the plastic container it was currently in. It wasn’t dead apparently. According to the people at the pet store at least.

 

He stood in line with the fish and all it’s necessary care equipment to buy and get back home as soon as possible. Oona had been asleep when he left and he really didn’t want her to get scared again.

 

And he made it back fairly quick. Had enough to set up the fish tank, make sure the fish hadn’t died, put the fish in the tank, and start making breakfast before he decided to wake Oona up to let her know that he was making breakfast. He carried the tank upstairs and set it on his desk so he wouldn’t have to go far for it once he told Oona about it.

 

He told her after breakfast.

 

He pushed their plates to the side and pulled the chair that was still in the bathroom closer to the tub. Thankful that fish existed in water and wouldn’t malfunction if Oona got water on it. She liked to observe things up close, and with this fish, she’d be able to just rest her head on the edge of the tub an watch it rather than lean as far out as she possibly could without having another near death experience.

 

“I got you something.”

 

“Oh yeah?”

 

“Yeah.” He stood up from where he sat leaning against the tub and grabbed the clock from the chair. “I know you want a cat, but I’m still looking into that. Still trying to figure out if it’s doable. But in the mean time, I got you something. And I really think you’ll like it.”

 

He smiled and walked over to leave the bathroom, setting the clock down on the sink as he passed. Oona smiled as he left the room to grab the tank. She didn’t have much time to wonder what he could have gotten her as he was back just as soon as he left. He leaned into the bathroom, like he usually did when he was trying to surprise her. Only this time, he was leaning backwards instead of forwards.

 

“You ready?” She nodded.

 

He took one step into the bathroom and held the tank out in front of him. It of course meant nothing to Oona. She’s never seen a fish tank before. To her, it was just a glass bowl of water with some rocks in it. She squinted at it.

 

Why did Harry get her a bowl of water and some rocks?

 

She was about to ask him, but then she spotted it. It had been floating near the bottom, blending the rocks, but as it swam up towards the center of the bowl Oona’s jaw dropped. Eyes lit up with excitement.

 

“Harry!”

 

“I got you a-“

 

“A fish!” He laughed and moved closer to the tub, placing the bowl down on the chair. He watched Oona happily get as close to the glass she possibly could, to watch the fish. Eyes moving as they followed the fish while it swam around

 

“I figured, it’s not as nice a cat. But it is something.”

 

~

 

“Harry?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“What are you reading?” Oona only asked because she noticed when he sat down that was a new book. There was no place holder in it. And he opened up to the first page.

 

“Uh, The Little Mermaid.”

 

“Oh. She has a book?” Harry laughed. Lightly.

 

“Well, this is the original. The movie is like, the child friendly version of this story. This is…darker.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah.” She tapped her tail against the wall a few times in a way that made Harry think there was something more she wanted to say. And there was. “Will you read it to me?”

 

It had never occurred to Harry that Oona was interested in his books. That she wanted to know the words he was reading. That maybe she also wanted to read books, but couldn’t because paper and water don’t exactly mix. Could Oona even read?

 

“Sure.”

 

They got through three and a half chapters before they heard it. The knocking that interrupted Harry’s reading.

 

There was somebody at the door.

 

Harry shut the book and listened again, just to be sure he had heard right. Eight bangs on the door sounded and he stood up from the ground, running a hand through his hair as he considered all the scenarios that would result in whoever it was coming upstairs and into the bathroom.

 

“Stay here.” He rushed out the bathroom and threw the book on bed, making it halfway downstairs before realizing what he had said to Oona. Shaking his head at himself he turned back, taking the steps two at a time and stepping back into the bathroom. “Um, just….try not to make any noise okay?”

 

More knocking was heard and Harry was once again rushing to get the door. Looking through the peephole he was greeted with a large rounded version of Niall’s nose. A smaller curved version of Lou stood off the side. He could here them talking through the door about him. About how he better answer the door. And then Niall was banging on the door again. Harry knew it was coming. He watched Niall raise his fist to the door. But he flinched anyway.

 

“Harry! Come on mate open the door!” He knocked again. “We know you’re in there. We literally heard you run down the stairs.” Damn.

 

“Heyyyyy guys.” He stood in the middle of the doorway in a poor attempt to block them from coming inside. But all things considered, it was Niall and Lou. “What are you,” and they of course invited themselves in. “What are you guys doing here?”

 

Lou dropped her bag on one of the couches and observed the living room as Niall went into the kitchen. It was clean. She took a quick look under the furniture when Harry turned his back to her to check on Niall, who was pouring himself some of the leftover smoothie from breakfast. It was too clean. Standing back up she found Harry looking at her oddly, but before she could say anything Niall’s voice was heard.

 

“What the hell is this?” Harry gave Lou one last odd look before making his way into the kitchen to find Niall staring at the growing list that was stuck to the freezer.

 

Appropriately titled: Oona’s favorite foods & editable whatnots.

 

“Who is Oona?” Lou moved past Harry to take a look at the list for herself. The idea of him having a secret child becoming more and more of a possibility.

 

“Uh, no one.” He moved forward and pulled the paper from under the magnet before folding it and placing it in his pocket.

 

“You’re making a list of no one’s favorite foods?” Niall misunderstood a lot of things. And he knew it was because he usually wasn’t paying enough attention to whatever was being said to fully understand without asking questions. But this. This was not his fault.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“No.” Niall set his smoothie down on the counter and rubbed his forehead. “Harry. No.”

 

And then Niall proceeded to give the most logical argument Niall had ever bothered to give. And Lou took the opportunity to abandon the two boys in the kitchen and check out the bathroom and guest room. Harry trailed off his argument, trying to remember if there was anything of Oona’s downstairs before following after her.

 

“What on earth are you all even doing?” Lou found nothing out of the ordinary. She sighed before turning to look at Harry.

 

“Well, we never see you anymore. And you’ve been a little weird lately. An Niall thinks you have a secret kid and we really came over to-“

 

Two screams cut Lou off and caused both she and Harry to flinch before running upstairs. Harry calling for Oona. Niall was sat on the ground against the door when they reached the bathroom as Oona continued to scream and slam her tail against the wall. She didn’t know him.  


“Oona. Love,” Harry moved towards her, careful not to slip on the water she had splashed out of the tub. She grabbed at him as he got closer, pulling him down towards her quicker than her anticipated. “Oona it’s okay. It’s okay.” He pushed some hair away from her face and pulled her in, pressing his forehead against hers. Holding one of her hands against his chest. “It’s okay.”

 

“Okay?” She sounded so small.

 

“Yeah. It’s okay.” She nodded. “That’s Niall.”

 

“That’s Niall?” she took a quick glance at the blonde haired boy who was still sat on the floor in disbelief.

 

“Yeah, he’s a bit funny looking isn’t he?” He laughed. And of course, she laughed.”

 

“Harry.” Niall wanted an explanation. Niall needed an explanation. But he was ignored.

 

“I’m gonna turn this on okay?” He moved one of hands from where it rested on Oona’s neck to the handles near the tub’s faucet.

 

“Cause you haven’t got a lot of water left in here now.”

 

“Harry.” Ignored again.

 

“Lou could you get me some towels please?”

 

“Harry, what is-”

 

“Please Lou?” She gave him a look before moving herself from where she stood in the doorway to grab some towels from his closet. And then looked at Niall. “Niall this is Oona. She really loves stir-fye and candy….she’s uh,” he turned to smile at her for a second, trying to figure out the best way of summing up this situation. “She’s my mermaid…..literally.” He raised his arm to show Niall the empty space where his most recent tattoo should have been.

 

“Oh my god.”

 

“I know.”

 

~

 

“So you’re telling me,” Niall had to make sure he had this story right. “you’re telling me, that she’s just been in your tub since….however many months ago it was that you got that tattoo?”

 

“No.”

 

“No?”

 

“Well, she hasn’t been here since I got the tattoo. She’s been here since…..” Harry paused to calculate how much time had passed between that night in the tattoo shop and the day he found Oona “About two, two and a half months maybe.”

 

“And you’re telling us that she’s your tattoo?” They sat separately around the bathroom. Lou sitting on the sink while Niall, Harry and Oona of course remained in their spots. Harry had told them everything. Oona had pressed her fingers to the back of his neck when he began explaining it. She was still weary of them. Harry reassured her that it was okay.

 

“Well, I mean. I’m not saying that she is. That’s not a fact. I don’t know if she is my tattoo. But, she sure as hell looks like the tattoo, and well. My tattoo was here when she was not. And now that she is, my tattoo is not. So I’m really just trying to connect some dots here.”

 

Lou nodded understandingly while Niall stared at the floor near the tub. Glancing at Harry and Oona every once in a while. Quietly rethinking everything he thought he knew. Oona only looked at Harry, holding her fish close and twisting one of the tiny curls that didn’t make it into his bun around her finger. And Harry watched Lou, as she watched Oona. She watched her tail for a moment, as it very gently tapped against the wall. she leaned slightly to see more into the tub, accessing the rest of her tail and tshirt Harry had given her. A grubby, angry looking bat in white lining on wet black cotton. One of his more expensive ones. She looked at all the polaroids on the wall. The tiniest of smiles appearing on her face. He was actually doing a good job at taking care of her.

 

Then Lou shifted her eyes to Oona’s face and scrunched her nose. Harry didn’t know what Lou was doing, but he thought of every possibly argument he could make in their (his & Oona’s) defense.

 

“Jesus Christ Harry.” She pushed herself off the sink and kicked his leg as she walked past him to leave the bathroom.

 

“What?”

 

“Were you just gonna let her hair get all tangled and knotted?” Harry turned his head to observe Oona’s hair as Lou stepped out to find a comb. He had planned to comb it before, but then something dramatic happened and he forgot. He pushed some of her hair back and made a pouty face at her, causing her to giggle as Lou returned with a brush.

 

“This is not the best but…” she paused before getting any closer to the tub. “Can I brush your hair?” Oona looked at the object in Lou’s hands before looking at Harry, who just slow blinked at her. With raised eyebrows and a soft smile. She turned her back to them, pushing all her hair behind her shoulders and turning her head slightly to smile up at Lou. “Oh yay!”

 

Lou moved to sit next to Harry near the tub, gathering Oona’s hair in a low ponytail to twist the water out of it. “Is it gonna hurt? the tangles?”

 

“Well Harry, she’s been here for at least two months and this is the first time she’s having her hair combed so….” Harry frowned. “I mean, she has been in water this whole time, so it probably won’t be that bad. It’s not like it’s dry tangles.”

 

“Is that Razzleberry?” Niall moved closer to the tub, settling himself on the other side of Harry to examine the photos taped to the wall.

 

~

 

“Hey Niall.” Harry stood in the doorway of his flat, leaning against the frame and watching as Niall watched for the elevator. Lou has left earlier to pick Lux up from a play date, leaving the two boys alone with the mermaid. Niall asked Oona every question he could possibly think off. Which was pointless, since the only things Oona knew about being a mermaid were the things Harry had told her. Like having to stay in water all the time.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Don’t tell Gemma.” Niall gave him a look.

 

“Bro.” He closed his eyes and let his head fall back, a slightly heavy sigh escaping from him

 

“I know.”

 

“Do you know what you’re-“

 

“I know Niall. I know. But it’s just,” Harry paused as he heard something fall upstairs and waited until a faint ‘I’m okay’ was heard before he turned back to Niall. “I know it’s not fair to ask you to keep things from Gemma, for an indefinite amount of time. But it’s just, I…..I don’t know how to do this. Oona’s a mystery to me. I don’t know how to take for her. I have no clue how to tell if she’s actually happy or not. Her first memory, is waking up in my bathtub. She’s never seen beyond the walls of my bedroom. I mean sure, she’s seen movies she’s seen photos but she hasn’t seen anything with her own eyes. She doesn’t know how blue the sky is. She doesn’t know what our kitchen looks like. She doesn’t know that there’s tons of dogs outside just waiting for someone to pet them. She wants a cat, cause Razzle stayed by her side the whole time and made her feel less alone when I wasn’t there in the bathroom with her. But not all cats are gonna be like Razzle. And you know, she has a brain. She has a heart. She has, I don’t know, vital organs…and everything else. She wants things. But she doesn’t know anything. She doesn’t know what wants. And she can’t describe to me what she thinks she wants, cause she doesn’t know what to think about what she thinks she wants. And how am I supposed…”

 

“Harry.”

 

“I’ll tell her when I’m ready Niall. I’m trying to figure this out. I’m learning more and more day by day.  It’s complicated enough, I don’t need a marine life science geek breathing down my neck about the existence of a being that isn’t supposed to exists. I don’t want you to feel like you have to carry this with you. It’s my secret I’ll deal with it.”

 

“Alright Harry.” The ding of the elevator. “I won’t tell her.”

 

~

 

Another month passed and things were……okay.

 

~

 

Harry rolled in eyes in annoyance as he scooped some of the macaroni and cheese he had made for lunch into two bowls. Lou and Niall were sat in his living room. Being loud. Joking. Looking at stupid things on their phones. Laughing. Telling stories as if they didn’t already know everything about each other’s lives considering the fact that they worked together and hang out all the time.

 

He grabbed two forks and the bowls and left the kitchen, stopping in front of the living room to stare angrily at his friends.

 

Harry was upset.

 

“Guys.” Their laughter died down as they looked at him. “If you’re gonna hang out in my house like this, you’re gonna have to do it in the bathroom upstairs. Like, I wasn’t joking when I said that earlier. Literally like, she can hear you. Oona can hear you all. You all were upstairs you said hello to her she knows you’re here. She can hear your laughing and having a good time. Don’t you think that maybe she wants to be a part that? Oona can’t hang out in the living room with us. She needs to be in water and the blow up pool only lasts her for so long. I know we’ve always hung out at my house, but things are different now. Oona is here and things have to change. So, I mean I really hate to say this but this is how it’s gotta be from now on. You either hang out upstairs or…find somewhere else to hang out. You can’t come in here, in my house and not include Oona in things. Sure she probably won’t understand 90% of the things you’re talking about, but at least she won’t feel alone. As the person she depends on it’s my responsibility to make she never feels alone.” He shook his head and turned to make his way to the stairs.

 

“Oh gosh, Harry,”

 

“There’s macaroni on the stove, if you’re interested. I’ll be upstairs with Oona.”

 

And then he was gone. And Lou and Niall were alone in the living room. Thinking about what Harry had said.

 

“He’s right ya know.”

 

~

 

Things weren’t the same.

 

Things weren’t good.

 

~

 

“So like,” Niall got kicked out of his house for the night. Gemma was observing her otters and needed no distractions or interferences. So Niall had to go. And where did he go? To Harry’s of course. He had dinner with the curly haired boy and his mermaid. He listened to Harry read two chapters of a book to Oona before she announced that she was tired. And the two boys moved downstairs as not to disturb her sleep. “can she read?”

 

Harry didn’t answer right away. He’d thought about this before. Could she read? It’s not like she had to read. He couldn’t exactly hand her a book every now and then. She was in water all the time. There was a 95% chance the book would get ruined. He never had to leave her notes. He always read to her. She had questioned what a book was the first time she’d seen one but she’d never questioned what reading was. Did she know what reading was? Could she read?

 

“I don’t now.”

 

~

 

“We should go to the store while she’s sleeping.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I wanna do something to cheer her up.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“Nothing happened, I think she must be really bored, so i wanna do something that’ll cheer her up a bit. and i have the perfect idea.”

 

~

 

Lou pulled the last bit of frog tape off the wall and stepped down from the chair she was on as Niall set the fish tank back on tiny shelf that sat next to the tub.

 

“Think she’ll like it?” Harry stood outside the bathroom, leaning against the door and pinching his bottom lip.

 

“I think she’ll love it.”

 

“Okay, I’m gonna go get her.” He turned and grabbed the dark green scarf off his bed before heading downstairs. They had moved her into the guest bathroom while they redecorated the one upstairs. She wasn’t doing anything when he reached. Which bothered him. Oona was always doing something, even it was just tapping her tail against the wall. But she wasn’t doing anything. Just sitting there. Waiting. “Oona.”

 

She turned her head to look at him, smiling softly.

 

“You done?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“What were you all doing up there?” Harry smiled and raised his eyebrows at her.

 

“Ahhh it’s a surprise.”

 

“Oh yeah?” Her excitement levels were low.

 

“Yeah.” He smiled bigger. He was trying. “So I’m gonna have to cover your eyes. Like this.”

 

He held the scarf over his eyes to show her how it would be before tying it around her head. Asking her if she could see or if it was too tight. He slipped his arms under her tail and around her back and raised out of the tub, making sure she was alright before making his way back upstairs. Following the trail of towels he’d made before bringing her downstairs so they wouldn’t get any water on the floor. Lou and Niall stood up from where they sat on the ground when he returned, moving out of his way as he carried Oona over to the tub.

 

“You alright Oona?”

 

“I’m just fine Niall.” She smiled slightly even though she couldn’t see him. “I’ll be better once I’m back in some water.” Slight laugh. Harry set her down in the water and reached behind her head, untying the scarf and counting down from 3 before pulling it away from her face. “Oh my god.”

 

The walls were painted pink. A soft shade of pink with thin white stripes that were evenly spread out enough that it didn’t make you feel dizzy. The lid of the toilet seat was covered by fluffy pink toilet cover while the rest of the white porcelain was decorated with sea shell stickers. The white towels had been replaced with pastel blue towels. An oil painting of two mermaids in the ocean that Harry had found in the window of an antique shop hung on the wall opposite the tub for Oona to look at. It had an elaborate gold frame and was very hard for him to get up the stairs. She turned her head to see her fish on the top shelf of a tiny bookcase that had been decorated to look like a mess of shells and seaweed, coral and lost jewelry. A mirror and hairbrush sat next to the tank. The bottles of bubble bath liquid lined the bottom shelf. On the middle, along with her dolphin and sea horse toys, was a significantly sized oyster. Open with a big pearl on display inside of it.

 

“That’s waterproof.” She looked up from the oyster to see the three watching her. Harry of course more fond than the other two. He smiled and nodded at her. “Touch the pearl.”

 

She looked him as if he had no clue what he was talking about before reaching out of the tub to place one of her fingers on the pearl.

 

“Harry!” It lit up.

 

She pulled her hand away and watched at the pearl stayed illuminated. A smile on her face. The mood lifted. Her excitement levels were up.

 

“Touch it again.” She did. And it turned off. Her tail slapped against the wall with force. “It’s a light. Cause I was thinking, well, the bathroom light is all the way over here,” he reached over to flip the lightswitch off and then back on. “And I don’t know, maybe you’d like to have some light when you wake up in the middle of the night. So yeah. That’s your own personal light.”

 

“I love this.”

 

“Do you really?” Harry walked over the tub and sat on the edge, allowing Oona to wrap her arms around his waist and rest her head against his side in an odd hug.

 

“Yeah.”

 

~

 

A week later Harry lay awake in his bed, staring at the bathroom door. Oona had been happier for a few days. But it was only a few days. He had watched the bathroom door as a faint glow came from under it.

 

Oona had her light on.

 

And then it disappeared a few minutes later.

 

Oona turned her light off.

 

And he watched the glow go on and off for an hour before it went off and stayed off.

 

Rolling over on his back and staring at that ceiling, Harry never thought that water could sound so sad.

 

~

 

Oona turned her light off.

 

~

 

“I don’t, know, what to do.”

 

Harry was upset.

 

Harry was so upset that he hadn’t even noticed, or maybe he had and just didn’t care, when Niall slipped his completely full smoothie out of his hand and replaced it with his own empty cup. Of course they were sitting in the tattoo shop. Harry had told Oona that he had some errands to run, which was a lie. As much as he didn’t want to leave her alone, being at home made him sad.

 

“Well what’s she doing?”

 

“She’s not doing anything. That’s the problem. She doesn’t smile much anymore. Rarely laughs, and when she does it’s not….it’s not her.” There was a pause amongst the three. The only noise being the sound of Lou’s nails dragging against her skin as she scratched the back of her hand.

 

“Can I suggest something?” Niall took another sip from his (Harry’s) smoothie and pushed it away from him before placing his phone on the counter between them. “And hear me out okay.”

 

“Alright.”

 

“I think you should tell Gemma.”

 

“No. Absolutely not. Not yet.”

 

“Harry,”

 

“Niall!”

 

“Listen alright? You should tell Gemma. You’ve said it yourself Harry, we redecorated that bathroom, because Oona was stuck in a boring room all day. You bought her bubble bath an lots of toys because she’s stuck in that tub all day. And it’s not even like, a big tub ya know. it’s a normal sized tub. She sits around splashing her tail her day because that’s all she really could do. But if she’s not doing anything anymore. If she’s sad now….well she’s just wasting away now isn’t she.” He had a point. “I think you should tell Gemma. Because Gemma works in that sea creature reserve, and she’s got all those huge tanks full of water that Oona could swim around in and maybe become happy again. I’m not saying it’s gonna make everything better, because we don’t know what’s actually upsetting her. But it’s something. I don’t know anything about mermaids, but i’m sure it in her instinct to swim just as it is with fish. I mean, she’s just as much human as she is fish I suppose, wasn’t it like, scientifically proven that being active has a positive effect on people’s moods?”

 

“And what am I supposed to say to her Niall? ‘Oh hey sis guess what I got this mermaid who needs to work on her cardio so can we just crash your place of employment?’ I can’t say that! I can’t take Oona there! So Gemma can mention to her coworkers that her little brother is harboring a fairytale creature because oh surprise they actually exist.” Harry was shaking his hands in the air like a madman. “Those marine life geeks would probably lose their shit an blab to someone with a higher authority who will probably then try to take her from me and I’ll only be allowed to visit her like once every two weeks and then it’ll become once a month and then it’ll be like once every few months because they’re running all these tests and experiments on her and then they’ll just start saying that I can’t see her because well she’ll probably be dead by then because they’ll have progressed to the part where they cut her open and look at her insides and create detailed sketches of her skeletal system and”

 

Niall’s jaw was best described as being on the ground and Lou reached over the counter to slap some sense into Harry. Literally.

 

“Ow…” He held his hand to his face and rubbed his cheek to help ease the pain, pouting like a child.

 

“Get a hold of yourself Styles. This is your sister we’re talking about. She won’t do that, and you know it.”

 

“Yeah not to mention she works in at a reserve/rehab center. Even if she did tell them that you had a mermaid, they wouldn’t go mouthing off to any government officials. They trying to protect sea creatures, not send them to their death. And if they would want to rn test, it’d be nothing different than what they do with their own  animals or what a doctor would do to check your health. You know that.”

 

Harry continued to hold his face as he processed Niall’s words. They were true. And surprisingly logical considering it came from Niall.

 

“How would I even tell her? And how would we get Oona there anyway?” Niall smiled.

 

“You go an decide what you wanna say and tell Gem later. Leave the transpo to me.”

 

~

**PRINCESS GEMMA OF CHESHIRE  
7:00pm**

 

Hey gem

 

Hey

 

Can I ask you something?

 

I mean…..

 

Like seriously

 

…..

Okay

Go for it

 

Can like

 

Can I come by your job at some point?

Like, after hours?

Secretly?

 

What?

 

Like don’t let your coworkers know

Because it’s kind of a big deal and  
I’m trying to keep it as secret

 

…..why?????

?????????????????????

 

I don’t wanna talk about it over the phone.

Kinda paranoid that the government’s reading  
my messages and now I’ve said too much  
they’re gonna be watching me from now on.

They probably think I’m in on some big drug deal.

Or something awful like……

Idk

Sex trafficking.

 

Harry!!!

 

What

I’m just saying

Isn’t that what they’re supposed to be keeping an eye out for?

Anyway, so can I come by?

 

You’ll tell me what’s going on right????

When you see me I guess?

 

Yeah.

 

Alright.

You can come then.

 

Great.

 

~

**Niall (idiot)**  
**7:25 pm**

 

Done.

**8:07 pm**

 

Sorted.

3 days.

 

* * *

**3 days.**

 

Harry paced back and forth in his living room as he waited for Niall to call. He tugged at the cross that hung around his neck before pressing it to his lips. He stopped pacing at the bottom the staircase and considering going up to check on Oona. He hadn’t spoken to her since they had dinner 3 hours ago and it was rather quiet. Maybe she had fallen asleep. He’d told her that he had a surprise for her but wasn’t sure when it would happen.

 

Maybe she didn’t care.

 

He ran a hand through his hair and considered putting it up in a bun before remembering that all his hair ties were in the bathroom with Oona anyway.

 

Harry resumed his pacing. Three minutes passed before he felt the vibrations against his leg and pulled his phone from his pocket.

 

**Lou Tizzy & Niall (idiot)  
8:50 pm**

 

**LT:** Open the door x

 

Sliding his phone back into his pocket he opened his front door and leaned out into the hallway to find Niall stepping off the elevator with some sort of large plastic tarp and a backpack.

“This is your plan?” Harry was ready to give up. Call the whole thing off.

 

“Will you shut up you don’t even know the plan yet.” He dropped the stuff on the couch and turned to look at his stressed out friend. “Will you relax. This is gonna be great.”

 

“I fucking hope so Niall.”

 

“Anyways, here’s what we’re gonna do.” He clasped his hands together like he was talking a group of cheerleaders. It was just Harry. “Don’t ask me how, cause I really don’t know, but I managed to get Gem to get me the keys to one of the transpo trucks they they use to move the big animals between the center and whatever body of water they came out of……I got the one they had that had the big ass shark in that one time. Because that shark was badass. And Oona deserves cool shit. So yeah Lou’s waiting around back in that, and, we’re gonna wrap this tarp thingy around Oona’s tail, maybe we can dip it in the tub a bit, so it’s not like, dry and shit against her tail. And we’re gonna have to take the stairs because no one in this building ever takes the stairs. And, I wasn’t sure how long it would take us to get downstairs with her but I got this,” he pulled a spray bottle full of water out of his backpack and squirted Harry with it “in case she needs it on the way down. I mean, idk if it’ll help any, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”’

 

“Do you really think this’ll work?” Harry was in need of reassurance.

 

“I genuinely believe this will work.” Niall smiled (kinda sadly) at him. “I would never dream of hurting your little princess mermaid miracle baby.”

 

“She’s not a baby Niall.”

 

“Uh, technically she’s only like…..a few months old.”

 

“Niall.”

 

“Well it’s true. She’s just like, a really adult baby. She was born an adult. Wait, oh my god. Was she even born? She like, she just materialized.”

 

“We don’t know that Niall.”

 

“Well how else would she have gotten her?”

 

“I don’t know Niall, I don’t know anything about how she got here. And unfortunately she doesn’t either, so just, drop it okay.”

 

“Alright alright, fine. Overprotective I get it.”

 

“Niall!”

 

Two beeps and a vibration broke their conversation.

 

**Lou Tizzy & Niall (idiot)  
9:04 pm**

 

**LT:** What the fuck are y’all doing????

We told Gemma 9:30 hurry up

 

“Oh shit we did tell her 9:30, fuck. Okay, let’s go get the merms.” Niall grabbed his things and followed Harry upstairs where they found Oona sitting quietly in the tub. Slouched down so half of her face was submerged in the water.

 

“Hey Oon?” She turned to look them before tilting her head back so her mouth was above the water level.

 

“Hi.” Soft.

 

“Heyyy.” Harry smiled and leaned against the door, crossing his arms. “What cha’ doin’?”

 

“Nothin’”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah.” He pinched his lip and nodded his head slightly.

 

“Do you wanna do somethin’?” She didn’t answer right away, just watched him for a moment. Only looking away a second to acknowledge Niall as he entered the bathroom (after going through Harry’s dresser).

 

“Is it the surprise?” Harry nodded his head.

 

“Yeah I was thinking we could go somewhere.” Her eyes brightened a little. Harry mentally highfived everyone involved in this plan.

 

“Like to the bathroom downstairs?” Niall snorted.

 

“No love, like, outside this building. Somewhere completely different.” Her tail tapped against the wall. It was quick and it was gentle. Not a drop of water left the tub or a sound made. But it certainly didn’t go unnoticed by Harry.

 

“Okay.”

 

~

 

“You doin okay babe?” He asked her quietly as Niall checked the next floor to make sure it was clear for them to pass. Taking the stairs while carrying a mermaid was….just a complicated as it sounded. And the spray bottled was actually very helpful.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“One more floor guys.” Niall motioned for them to pass. “Do you need a spray or do you think you can make it?”

 

“Um…” How the hell was she supposed to know.

 

“Listen, I’m not taking any chances. Give her a spray.”

 

~

 

Lou was leaning against the back of the truck when they arrived downstairs.

 

“About time. Jesus what were you all doin’ playin’ a board game?” She rolled her eyes at the two boys before smiling softly at the mermaid. “Hi Oona.”

 

“Hi Lou.”

 

“You doin’ alright?”

 

“I think so.” Harry cleared his throat.

 

“She’ll probably be better once she’s back in some water yeah?” Lou clapped her hands together before pointing at Harry for reminding them that ¼ of their party couldn’t just stand around for chit chat. She moved from where she rested against the back doors of the truck and opened them up to reveal a tall piece of thick glass that kept the pool of water from spilling out of the car. The blue fabric harness that was used to help lift the heavy animals was pinned up to the roof of the truck so it wouldn’t be in the way. Harry had arms. He could lift Oona on his own.

 

He climbed up into the truck and placed Oona down into the small temporary tank. And she giggled. And Harry felt his heart nearly break his ribcage. Oona hadn’t giggled in a long time. He sat back on the small bench and watched her swim in a small circle. Which is all she really has space to do. But she was happy about it no less.

 

“This is bigger than the tub.”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Is this the surprise?” Harry scoffed playfully.

 

“Oona Sugarfish!” She giggled at the name. “Who do you think I am?!”  She giggled more and he set his hand on the tank, his fingers curling over the edge. “Of course this isn’t the surprise. The surprise is so much better than this. I promise.” She scrunched her nose up and smiled at him, reaching her hand up to lock her fingers between his. The glass separating their palms from each other.

 

~

 

The car stopped.

 

Niall turned to look at his friends in the back of the truck, one now having half of his arm dipped into the water and the other now resting at the bottom of the tank, completely submerged in the water and blowing bubbles up to the surface.

 

“Guys,” Harry and Oona looked up at him as Lou opened the back doors. A big cheesy smile on her face. Another set of doors stood behind her, pale blue walls could be seen through their circular windows.

 

“We’re here.” Lou sang in a whisper. Oona raised herself back up to the surface of the tank.”

 

“Yeah buddy!” Niall was excited. This was exciting. Also, his plan had worked.

 

“Where is here?”  Oona looked at Harry and flinched immediately as he playfully blew air in her face.

 

“My sister’s job.” He grabbed the tarp again as Lou motioned for him to wrap her up again.

 

“Gemma.” She hooked her arms around his neck as he lifted her out of the tank stepped out of the truck. Moving through the doors to the building he spotted Niall talking to Gemma at the end of the empty hallway. Lot’s of hand motions from Niall and a serious expression from Gemma, thought her expression changed drastically once she saw her baby brother and the girl he held in his arms. Shock and disbelief. She shifted slightly, as if she was going to walk towards them but Niall grabbed her elbow. Harry wasn’t ready to talk about it. He thought the ride over would get him ready but…..well it didn’t. Harry wanted to go home. He was wanted to take Oona back home and never tell anyone about it. He’d take all of his savings and buy a house with pool. And he’d fill it with water that wouldn’t make Oona’s skin burn and it would be fine. A house with lots of land, so no one could spy on her.

 

“Harry,” Lou touched his back and pulled him from his thoughts. Gemma was still watching them. Oona was watching Gemma, her head resting against Harry’s shoulder. “The water Harry.”

 

“Yeah.” He passed through another set of doors that lead to room with a pool type area in it. The tiniest gasp left Oona.

 

"This one is much bigger.” Harry smiled.

 

“I’m gonna put you in okay?” Oona nodded.

 

“Is this the surprise?” She looked out at the water but didn’t move from where Harry placed her in.

 

“Kinda. The real surprise is through that tunnel over there.”  She looked over in the direction he pointed about still remained against the wall near where he stood. He crouched down beside her and rerolled one of the sleeves of her(his) shirt before pushing some of her hair behind her ear. “Oona, you don’t wanna swim anymore?”

 

“I do!” Passionate.

 

“Well go on then.” He nudged her shoulder lightly and stood back up. “I’m gonna go okay” Panic on her face. “Just swim through there when you’re ready babe. I’ll be waiting over there okay?”

 

And then he left.

 

On the other side of the bigger tank Gemma, Niall, and Lou stood watching the opening of the tunnel at the opposite wall of the tank that connected it to the pool. No one said anything beyond Lou’s comments about Oona seeming excited but a bit nervous about having so much swimming space.

 

They saw Oona’s head appear in the opening, but she didn’t swim through.

 

She didn’t trust it.

 

It wasn’t until Harry stepped into the space between Gemma and Niall that she swam forward through the tunnel. It wasn’t until he tapped on the glass and motioned for her to come towards them that she left tunnel and entered the big tank. She stopped in front of them, in front of Harry, and placed her hands against the glass to hold herself in place. She blew a few bubbles at him and he knocked against the glass with one of his knuckles before nodding his head at her.

 

And then she was off.

 

Around and around. Wall to wall. Loops and sharp turns. Twirls and dives.

 

Oona was having fun. Smiling. And Harry was happy.

 

“Explain this.”

 

“Honestly Gem, I wish I could.” Gemma looked away from the tank to watch Harry as he watched Oona. He pinched at his bottom lip as she squinted at him.

 

“Harry.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? You found her didn’t you?” Harry shook his head.

 

“No.”

 

“No?”

 

“No.”

 

“What do you mean no?”

 

“I didn’t find her Gemma.”  He turned to meet her stare. “She just showed up. I don’t know how. I don’t know why. She just did, and now I have to take care of her….which is fine, I don’t mind taking care of her. It’s just a bit hard sometimes. I don’t know how to take care a mermaid. Ya know, like…….what if something bad happens and I don’t know what to do because she’s……..I don’t know how to keep her happy. That partially why we brought her here. She got real sad an I didn’t know what to do and we brought her here because here she can swim around and stuff  which she can’t do at home because bathtubs weren’t made for swimming.”

 

“Wait hold on, you’re keeping her in your bathtub? Harry,” Gemma sighed.

 

“Where else am I supposed to keep her Gemma?”

 

“Yeah but….I mean, your bathtub is tiny.” They looked away from each other and the four of continued to watch Oona swim around the tank. That is, until she began swimming in small circles in some obscure corner of the tank.

 

“What is she doing?’ Lou leaned forward a bit squinted in Oona’s direction as Harry stepped closer to the glass to get a better look. She was pulling at her shirt, twisting it at an angle, and bending on of her arms behind her head to swipe at her back.

 

“Fighting with her shirt?”

 

“It’s odd.” Silence again as the continued to twist around. “Is she trying to take it off?” Clever Teasdale. Harry took a quick look at his friends before knocking his one of knuckles against the glass again, startling Oona slightly and causing her to stop pulling at her shirt as she looked at them. He shook his head at her and she turned her head away, suddenly shy, before returning to swimming around the tank.

 

Nothing went unnoticed by Gemma.

 

“What was that?” She nudged Harry’s arm and jerked her chin towards the tank.

 

“What?”

 

“What was that? Why did you shake your head at her? She can take her top off if she wants too let her take her shirt off.” Harry turned completely to face his sister as she lightly shoved his shoulder.

 

“You remember my mermaid tattoo don’t you?” Harry hoped she would connect the dots.

 

“Oh! Oh my god yeah.” She didn’t. “Lol what does she think of that bit of art you’ve got?” She laughed.

 

“Gemma. Focus.”

 

“What? I just wanna know.”

 

“She’s never seen it.”

 

“What do you mean she’s never seen it? What do you wear sweaters around the house 24/7?”

 

“She’s never seen it because I haven’t got it anymore.”

 

Gemma stared at Harry.

 

“….What?” Harry raised his arm up for her to see. “Oh my god. Jesus. I mean I know you said it was fading but it’s like….like it’s like clean gone.” She rubbed her thumb roughly against the skin of her arm, as if she would somehow uncover the missing tattoo. “Wait.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Are you telling me”

 

“Yes.”

 

“So she’s…. you’re a liar. You’re lying.”

 

“Gemma what other”

 

“It’s not possible! Like, logically, it’s just not possible.”

 

“Babe,” Niall leaned around Harry’s frame to see Gemma. “considering we’re watching a mermaid swim around a tank at your job, I think anything is possible at this point.”

 

Lou snorted and Harry turned to raise his eyebrows at Niall in a appreciative way.

 

“Thank you Niall.”

 

“Okay, fair point. But what has that got to do with” Gemma cut herself off. “Ooohhh.” Gemma was connecting the dots. “She’s the tattoo. Which is why she’s wearing the shirt. Which is why you won’t let her take it off.”

 

And that was that.

 

They stood in a silence for a moment longer before Harry suggested going back up to meet her in the small tank. He tapped on the glass (again, I know) and pointed at the tunnel as the others headed towards the staircase. He didn’t leave the room until he was sure she understood what he was telling her.

 

Once back upstairs he found Niall and Gemma waiting in the hallway outside the door of the pool room.

 

“Lou’s gone in so Oona isn’t alone but we thought we wait here for you.

 

“Okay well, let’s go in then.” He walked past them and pushed the door open for the three of them to enter. Lou sat on the edge with her legs dipped in the water, Oona floating in front of her.

 

“Harry!” Excited. She went underwater an circled around to move next to Lou, placing her hands on the edge and pushing herself out of the water as much as the length of her arms would allow her.

 

“Oona!” He leaned down as he stopped in front of her, tapping her chin with his fingers he blew a bit of air in her face, knowing it would be cold since her skin was wet. She closed her eyes tightly and laughed loudly, slipping back into the water swimming far enough away to jump out of the water and not get anyone wet with the splash when she hit the water again.

 

She was successful with her distance.

 

“Oooooona!” He laughed as she resurfaced and smiled at Harry from the middle of the pool. Gemma watching their interaction closely. “Come back.”

 

He squatted down near the edge of the pool, grabbing one of Oona’s hands when she came back.

 

“This is my sister Gemma.” He motioned up to the blonde haired girl who stood beside him before actually looking up to her. “Gemma, this is Oona.” He glance at her and smirked. “The kraken. She likes to pretend she’s a mermaid but we all know the truth. Be careful or she’ll pull you in.” Oona laughed in a gasp and pushed at his knee, causing him to fall back and laugh.

 

“I wouldn’t!” She looked over at Gemma who was now sat with her legs crossed. “I promise.”

 

“I believe you.”

 

~

 

Gemma, Oona, and Lou fell into a conversation as Harry sat on the bench next to Niall. Pleased.

 

“Hey.” Harry looked away from the girls to see Niall staring at him.

 

“What?”

 

“Don’t you think you should go for a swim with Oona?” Harry shrugged. “Oh come on, you’re like, an we all know this, but you’re like Oona’s favorite person ever. You don’t think she’s love it if you got in there with her?” Harry turned to look at Oona again.

 

“Yeah I suppose, but I haven’t got anything to…” He turned back to find Niall holding his favorite yellow swimming trunks. “Where did you”

 

“From your dresser now go.” He shoved them into Harry’s hands and pushed him off the bench. “You have no excuse.”

 

~

 

“Oona!” she stopped from where she swam in circles with Harry when she heard Gemma call her name before swimming over to her. Harry following slowly behind her. “Does he take good care of you at home? He can barely take care of himself sometimes.” Gemma smiled. She was just joking around really, teasing Harry a bit. But of course, Oona wouldn’t know that.

 

“No! He’s very good.” She looked at him as he reached beside her, folding his arms up on the edge of the pool an resting his head on the arm farthest from her as they smiled at each other. “There’s apparently awful people in this world.” She looked back at Gemma and rested her head on Harry’s arm as well. “I’m lucky to have him.”

 

Harry moved his touch his forehead to the top of her head before placing a kiss on the crown and resting his cheek against it.

 

Harry felt warm and tingly inside.

 

~

 

“Harry!” Harry turned his head, letting out a heavy breath though his nose.

 

“Harrrry!” Harry stretched one of his legs out, pulling the sheet that was twisted around it down with it.

 

“Harrrryyyy!!!” Harry sat up. The pillow that was over his head fell to the floor as he rubbed his eye an pushed his unruly hair back.

 

“Oona?” She let out a whine and was on the move. “Oona.”

 

He fell out of his bed thanks to the sheet tangled around his legs and crawled halfway to the bathroom door while trying to free himself and get to Oona as quickly as possible.

 

“Oona.” He fell (again) into the bathroom, finally pushing the sheets off his legs and looking up to see what was wrong with his mermaid. “Oh.”

 

“Harry.” She had on of her hands pressed against the wall behind her an the other stretched out in front of her to help find her balance as she stood in the middle of the tub.

 

“Oh my…”

 

“What do I do?”

**Author's Note:**

> they live on forever.
> 
> harry regularly takes her on trips to see ocean based art/locations.


End file.
